South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has recently approved new guidelines allowing non-profit organizations (NPOs) and registered crypto exchanges to sell their crypto asset holdings starting June 1, 2025. The approval was announced in the Fourth Virtual Asset Committee meeting at the Government Complex in Seoul.
S. Korea Nods to Institutional Crypto Sell-off
During the meeting, Vice Chairman Kim So‑young highlighted the need for transparent crypto oversight mechanisms before expanding its corporate participation. The announcement follows last year’s Virtual Asset Investor Protection Act, which set licensing requirements for exchanges and barred institutions from liquidating crypto holdings, citing speculative illicit flows.
The recent development of the crypto industry in South Korea is not surprising. Recall that in early 2025, the regulator piloted corporations and professional investors to open “real‑name” trading accounts, hinting at its intent to involve them in the crypto market soon. The move aims to balance institutional access against risk management.
FSC Sets Requirements
Under the new guidelines, registered non‑profits must have operated for at least five years and undergo an external financial audit before registering to sell donated crypto. Each organization is also required to establish a Donation Review Committee. However, only crypto assets listed on at least three local exchanges are eligible for sale, excluding low‑capped memecoins.
Licensed crypto exchanges may sell only cryptocurrencies in the top 20 by market capitalization across the five major Korean trading platforms. Daily liquidations are capped at 10 percent of the planned sale volume. All sale schedules require prior board approval and subsequent public disclosure of proceeds to ensure accountability.
Additionally, the new guideline bars licensed exchanges from supporting tokens whose average daily gains fall below 1% of total trading volume or whose market capitalization remains under $2.87 million (4 billion KRW) for over 30 consecutive days.
Approval Ahead of Presidential Election
Interestingly, a few pro-crypto candidates have emerged as the recent approval comes ahead of the presidential election. For example, Kim Moon‑soo, from the People Power Party, has made promises to the crypto community. He recently pledged that, if elected, he would permit major national institutions to allocate some of their assets into crypto, including BTC.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea has recently reaffirmed its stance against including Bitcoin in its foreign exchange reserves, citing extreme price volatility and insufficient liquidity as key deterrents.
