As debate continues in South Korea over regulating digital assets, financial firms are accelerating efforts to secure related infrastructure. Banks, securities firms and asset managers are moving beyond investment and cooperation with exchanges to widen ties with global blockchain foundations, real-world asset companies and token securities platforms. Industry participants are signing partnerships and making equity investments, while firms also examine stablecoin, tokenisation and distributed-ledger infrastructure as they prepare for competition after formal rules are set.

In the first week of June, the crypto market moved around three themes: XRP’s outperformance, bitcoin’s lack of direction and a power struggle over the U.S. Clarity Act. Spot bitcoin ETFs logged outflows for 10 straight sessions, pushing cumulative net outflows close to $3 billion, while XRP ETFs extended net inflows. JPMorgan publicly opposed the bill, citing a ban on paying interest to stablecoin holders, prompting pushback from Coinbase and support from Senator Cynthia Lummis.