South Korea to Bring Digital Assets Under State Asset Management System

South Korea’s Economy Ministry plans to include digital assets and intellectual property under the country’s new state-asset management framework.

South Korea plans to adopt the National Asset Basic Act to update the country’s state asset management system from the outdated State Property Act of 1950.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) hopes to modernize the management of national assets and explicitly includes digital assets and intellectual property, broadening the definition of state assets, the MOEF announced during a briefing at the President’s Blue House on Wednesday.

As part of the reform, the ministry also reiterated plans to tokenize government bonds on a blockchain to reduce transaction, as part of a 2027 pilot project. It also plans to explore the tokenization of state-owned real estate to encourage retail participation and share part of the generated returns with the public.

The move represents a significant regulatory development for South Korea, which has one of the world’s most active retail crypto markets. The framework seeks to shift the management of state-owned property from a legacy, real estate-focused framework to a new model focused on value creation.

Report from South Korea’s Ministry of Finance and Economy. Source: mofe.go.kr

On Tuesday, South Korea’s government unveiled its 2026 Economic Growth Strategy for the Second Half, which includes plans to conduct a 2027 pilot linking tokenized government bonds to its central bank digital currency (CBDC) infrastructure.

The plan calls for authorities to study how to make the Bank of Korea’s (BOK) CBDC infrastructure interoperable with other blockchains. The idea was first outlined publicly on July 1 by BOK Governor Hyun Song Shin at the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking.

Authorities plan to introduce measures later this year and said the pilot would form part of a broader effort to create a “blockchain economy.”

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On April 16, South Korea’s MOEF announced a pilot project that will use tokenized deposits to execute government operational spending, with a full rollout set for the fourth quarter of 2026.

Changes to South Korea Capital Markets Act and Electronic Securities Act, the country’s first tokenized securities framework, are scheduled to take full effect on Feb. 4, 2027.

The framework will legally recognize blockchain-ledgers as valid securities registries, bringing tokenized assets under the Financial Services Commission’s jurisdiction out of their current experimental stage.

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