South Korea's Democratic Party has again signalled its determination to enact a digital asset framework act within the year. It said that as digital assets and traditional financial products are rapidly combining in global markets, it should first establish a legal foundation and refine it rather than wait for a perfect system.

Min Byung-deok (민병덕), a Democratic Party lawmaker, said at a forum titled "Cases of Digital Asset Financial Innovation and Response Strategies" held at Post Tower in Yeouido, Seoul, on Sept. 10, "New things related to digital assets are coming out quickly around the world, but in South Korea, the system is not being made quickly."

Min stressed that the speed of legislation is more important than the completeness of the system. He said, "Everyone agrees on the need to enact it within the year, to the extent that if we cannot make the law within this year, we should quit," and stressed that preparations should not be delayed any further.

He also predicted that discussions on the bill would begin in earnest after the national audit. Min said, "I think full-scale discussion on the bill will take place around November, after the national audit ends," adding, "In the meantime, I hope the industry will 충분히 offer opinions that everyone can accept."

Ahn Do-geol (안도걸), another Democratic Party lawmaker, also stressed the need to institutionalise digital asset financial products.

Ahn said, "Digital assets are quickly entering global capital markets as they combine with existing financial products beyond simple trading," and "While major countries are rapidly forming related financial markets, our country remains in a state of regulatory vacuum."

He voiced concern that investors and related companies could move to overseas markets if a domestic system is not put in place. He said that if there are not enough regulated products, domestic investors may use overseas markets with relatively fewer protective measures, and the growth foundation for innovative digital asset companies could weaken.

He added that investor protection measures should be prepared together in the process of introducing digital asset financial products. He said the system needs to be designed with the high price volatility of digital assets, differences in trading hours between the 24-hour digital asset market and traditional securities markets, and on-chain risks such as hard forks in mind.

Ahn also presented an index calculation system based on multiple exchanges and multi-custody as items for regulatory review.

He predicted that follow-up institutional preparations, including related enforcement decrees, would continue for token securities (STO), for which financial authorities recently presented a direction for institutionalisation.

He also cited stablecoin institutionalisation as a key task. Ahn said stablecoins could play an important role not only in digital payments but also in trading new financial investment products such as token securities and in financial infrastructure in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) agents.

He said, "A schedule will be 마련 to start reviewing the digital asset framework bill and soon proceed starting with a public hearing," adding, "Along with the framework act, we are also preparing related systems such as the Electronic Financial Transactions Act sequentially so that stablecoins can actually circulate and be traded in the market."

The Democratic Party will also reorganise its internal system for digital asset discussions. Ahn said it plans to move the existing digital asset task force into a subcommittee under the party's AI and finance 추진 system to continue discussions, and is also considering forming a separate organisation after the framework act is enacted.