A bill amending the Act on Protection of Virtual Asset Users moved from committee referral to committee review on 26 August 2025. As drafted, it would add a new Article 15-2 giving the Financial Services Commission (FSC) authority to order virtual asset business operators to take "necessary measures" during emergencies — natural disasters, war, national incidents, or a sharp economic downturn — where urgent action is needed to stabilize the virtual asset market or protect users. The provision sets no quantitative threshold; it is a qualitative, case-by-case standard, and the bill is not yet law.
What this means for you
- No action is required yet. This is a bill under committee review, not an enacted law. There is no effective date, and no penalty has been specified in the current draft.
- If you operate as a virtual asset business (VASP) in Korea, note that the amendment would not add a registration or reporting threshold — it would instead give the FSC standing authority to issue direct emergency orders to any operator, regardless of size, once triggered by a qualifying event.
- Watch for the committee outcome. Because the trigger language ("천재지변, 전시, 사변, 경제사정의 급격한 변동 등") is broad and undefined by specific criteria, the scope of what counts as an emergency — and what "necessary measures" the FSC could order — will likely be shaped by further committee deliberation or a subsequent enforcement decree if the bill passes. Track this before assuming your current compliance posture is unaffected.
- Build in monitoring, not immediate compliance work. At this stage the practical step is to flag the bill for tracking through further National Assembly stages rather than to change any current operational process.
Source: none provided with this update.