South Korea Unlocks Crypto for Institutions: A New Era Begins

South Korea is adopting a phase-by-phase process to allow institutional cryptocurrency trading, marking a big change in its crypto policy. First, during the first half of 2025, non-profits, universities, police forces, and school corporations can sell digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The second phase, to be implemented in the latter half of 2025, will expand authorization to about 3,500 listed firms and professional investors to trade cryptocurrencies under a pilot program.

Financial Services Commission (FSC) is creating detailed institutional crypto investment guidelines, with individual guidelines for public companies and professional investors by Q3 2025, as well as non-profits and crypto exchanges by April 2025. South Korea is targeting to bring crypto regulations in the country at international standards, to provide better user protection, and to create a healthy market ecosystem through these guidelines.

This regulatory change is likely to drive growth and enhance liquidity in South Korea's crypto market, already one of the globe's largest retail crypto markets. This move comes after stringent regulations were imposed in 2017 to combat speculation and money laundering, with recent initiatives such as the Virtual Asset User Protection Act paving the way for regulated institutional involvement