By Harry Ryoo, CEO of BDACS and Attorney at Law

The United States Nears Complete Institutionalization of Digital Assets

On June 1, the Digital Asset Market Structure Act, officially known as the CLARITY Act, was formally placed on the US Senate floor agenda. This critical step follows its bipartisan passage through the Senate Banking Committee on May 14. If a full floor vote occurs before the August recess, the United States will finalize its second major digital asset milestone, building directly upon the Stablecoin Regulation Act, or the GENIUS Act, implemented in July 2025. This legislative strategy of separating the stablecoin framework from the overarching market structure functions as a decisive catalyst, successfully pulling the digital asset sector into the institutional fold after more than a decade of ambiguous jurisdictional friction.

Clear Codification of Digital Currency Issuance and Jurisdictional Authority is Established

The implications of these twin legislative pillars are clear. While the GENIUS Act establishes uniform federal rules for the issuance and circulation of digital currencies, the CLARITY Act systematically divides digital assets into digital commodities and investment contracts, drawing explicit jurisdictional lines between the CFTC and the SEC. This architecture effectively dissolves the persistent regulatory gray area of whether an asset constitutes a security or a commodity, a dilemma that has long plagued issuers, exchanges, and investors alike. This definitive resolution explains why both industry leaders, including Coinbase, Circle, and Ripple, and traditionally cautious Wall Street asset managers are unified in anticipating this legislation. When rules become transparent, institutional capital moves rapidly.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Digital Asset Legislation Remains Stalled in Legislature

Where, then, does South Korea stand? Despite the strong commitment demonstrated by the administration since its launch last year, the Digital Asset Basic Act, which attempts to regulate both KRW stablecoins and overall market structure simultaneously, has remained stalled in the National Assembly for nearly a year. Although the local election cycle has concluded and political calendars have stabilized, legislative momentum remains sluggish. There is a growing impression that the insistence on comprehensive, omnibus legislation is inadvertently paralyzing progress. It is critical to note that the United States successfully bypassed this deadlock through segmented legislation. By recognizing that stablecoins represent essential payment infrastructure while market structure governs capital markets, US lawmakers sequentially resolved areas of immediate consensus. In contrast, South Korea’s all-in-one legislative design means that a delay in any single contentious issue brings the entire framework to a complete halt. The speed of legislation dictates the velocity of the industry, and this widening regulatory gap is rapidly hardening into a permanent market disadvantage.

The Flight of Domestic Capital is Shifting from a Threat to a Tangible Reality

The tangible cost of this systemic inertia is already quantifiable. According to data from a blockchain security firm, stablecoin transaction volume in South Korea reached 64 billion USD over the past year. The vast majority of these transactions involve domestic capital migrating into foreign assets via USD-backed stablecoins. Consequently, South Korean investor capital and payment infrastructure are leaking through foreign digital currencies that the domestic market failed to build. Once a payment standard becomes entrenched, it is exceptionally difficult to reverse, even after local regulations are retroactively modernized. When the US CLARITY Act passes and grants USD stablecoins the robust legal armor of federal certification, this cross-border capital flight will only intensify.

What South Korea urgently requires right now is not flawless legislation, but rather pragmatic, immediate action. First, the framework for KRW stablecoins must be finalized without delay. Second, the market structure act should be pushed on a separate track, focusing explicitly on asset classification and the distribution of supervisory authority. Third, the regulatory licensing frameworks for critical infrastructure sectors, including digital asset custody, clearing, and settlement, must be preemptively organized, ensuring the domestic market is fully equipped to mobilize the moment the overarching laws pass.

What South Korea urgently requires right now is not flawless legislation, but rather pragmatic, immediate action. First, the framework for KRW stablecoins must be finalized without delay. Disagreements regarding eligible issuers can be managed dynamically through executive decrees and flexible licensing evaluations during the implementation phase. So long as a foundational legal definition, strict reserve asset requirements, and robust consumer protection mechanisms are established, the market can organically scale on top of that framework. Second, the market structure act should be pushed on a separate track, focusing explicitly on asset classification and the distribution of supervisory authority. Isolating this complex task from the broader, heavy harmonization required by the Capital Markets Act is the only viable way to maintain a realistic timeline. Third, the regulatory licensing frameworks for critical infrastructure sectors, including digital asset custody, clearing, and settlement, must be preemptively organized, ensuring the domestic market is fully equipped to mobilize the moment the overarching laws pass.

Further Delays Will Leave the Era of a KRW-Backed Stablecoin Permanently Out of Reach

This tectonic shift carries profound implications particularly for the city of Busan. While the relocation of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and HMM has established a robust foundation for Busan to leap forward as a maritime finance hub, this evolution will remain a partial success without the integration of next-generation digital financial infrastructure. Once the US CLARITY framework crystallizes, global digital asset capital will rapidly realign. For Busan to capture these flows, the city must independently prepare regional regulatory sandboxes, pilot programs, and specialized talent development channels, running parallel to central government legislative efforts. Busan must position itself not just as another candidate city, but as the definitively prepared ecosystem capable of attracting this institutional capital.

The formal placement of the Digital Asset Market Structure Act onto the US Senate floor marks the commencement of South Korea’s final golden hour. The subsequent one-to-two-year window, during which the US will refine its administrative rules and supervisory regulations post-passage, represents the only realistic window for South Korea to close the gap. Should this window close, the payment and capital rails of the digital currency era will solidify far beyond our reach. Any KRW-backed stablecoin introduced after that point will survive merely as a localized alternative rather than a globally competitive choice. Legislation is fundamentally a matter of political will, but it is equally a matter of industrial survival and temporal urgency. If we fail to act now, we will inevitably find ourselves relegated to the passive adoption of standards engineered by others.