DAXA releases second-half 2026 digital asset policy report
Report covers market surveillance, governance and payment settlement
The Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA) announced Wednesday that it has published its "Second-Half 2026 Digital Asset Policy Report."
The third edition since DAXA launched the series last year, the report focuses on building a comprehensive regulatory framework for the domestic digital asset market, reflecting growing momentum around institutionalization of the sector.
Nine advisory experts from financial research institutions, academia and the legal community contributed to the report, with Ahn Su-hyun, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies School of Law, serving as editor.
The report covers the rationale and significance of digital asset institutionalization, along with a regulatory roadmap, supervisory data standardization, user protection frameworks, a Korea-specific market surveillance model and governance structure proposals.
It also addresses issues likely to gain prominence as the market expands, including payment settlement, foreign investment and anti-money laundering (AML). Specific recommendations cover the regulatory direction for digital asset payment settlement services, AML risks and controls arising from allowing foreign investment, the trend of domestic digital asset businesses relocating overseas and the policy direction of a basic digital asset law, and AML measures for stablecoins.
DAXA Chair Oh Se-jin said in a foreword that "building a comprehensive basic legal framework for the industry, drawing on the experience accumulated since the enforcement of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, has become the most important task before us." He added that he hopes the report "will serve as an effective reference in the process of designing South Korea's digital asset policies and regulatory systems."
Meanwhile, DAXA co-hosted a policy forum on digital asset taxation reform with the People Power Party at the National Assembly building in Yeouido last month. At the event, PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik said there is a need to examine "whether applying the current tax framework is consistent with tax equity across asset classes, given that the financial investment income tax has already been abolished."
kyoung@heraldcorp.com
