As legislation on South Korea’s Digital Asset Framework Act stalls in parliament, the Bank of Korea is stepping up its central bank digital currency pilot, Project Hangang, entering a second phase focused on preparing deposit tokens for commercialisation. A turf dispute is also emerging between the central bank and the Financial Services Commission over regulatory authority, including licensing for stablecoin issuance. U.S. stablecoin firm Circle has highlighted Korea as a key hub and flagged possible expansion.

Shin Hyun-song (신현송), nominee for Bank of Korea governor, apologised over controversies involving personal matters, saying administrative processing was mishandled during years abroad and there was no intentional wrongdoing. Lawmakers focused on his assets and family issues, including owning three homes, his family’s foreign nationality and foreign-currency holdings. Shin said he has been selling foreign-currency assets and will keep reducing them, and addressed questions on housing transactions. He also set out views on exchange-rate moves, inflation and stablecoins.