South Korea Weighs 5% Crypto Allocation Limit for Corporations as Institutional Trading Nears

South Korea’s financial regulator is preparing to introduce new rules that would allow corporations and professional investors to enter the crypto market—while keeping their exposure tightly controlled.

According to local media reports, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) is drafting trading guidelines that would permit listed companies and qualified investors to allocate up to 5% of their equity capital each year to cryptocurrencies. The draft framework is expected to be finalized as early as January or February, with actual corporate trading likely to begin later this year.

The proposal would limit eligible assets to the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. While the list is still under review, it remains unclear whether U.S. dollar–pegged stablecoins such as USDT will qualify. Even with a broader asset pool, market observers expect most institutional capital to flow primarily into Bitcoin and possibly Ethereum, rather than smaller tokens.

The move represents another step in South Korea’s gradual rollback of its long-standing restrictions on institutional crypto participation. In mid-2025, authorities allowed non-profit organizations and crypto exchanges to liquidate their digital asset holdings. The FSC has since signaled plans to extend trading access to listed firms and professional investors in the second half of 2025, with the new guidelines serving as the operational blueprint.

Regulators reportedly settled on the 5% ceiling to limit systemic risk tied to large-scale corporate exposure to volatile crypto assets. Additional safeguards are expected, including split-order execution rules and price limits, designed to reduce market shocks as institutional liquidity increases.

Alongside these trading guidelines, attention is turning to the forthcoming Digital Asset Basic Act—South Korea’s second major crypto law. Expected in the first quarter of this year, the legislation is set to codify rules around key initiatives such as won-pegged stablecoins and the country’s first spot crypto exchange-traded funds.

While the allocation cap signals a conservative start, industry participants see stablecoin regulation—particularly the framework for a won-denominated token—as the policy development with the potential to reshape South Korea’s crypto landscape far more dramatically.