The United States' GENIUS Act, which sets rules for stablecoins, takes effect on Jan. 18 next year. Dollar-pegged stablecoins will thus formally enter the regulated financial system. As dollar-based digital payments and settlement gain traction, the shift toward on-chain finance — in which financial assets such as stocks and bonds are tokenized and traded on blockchains — is expected to accelerate. Market participants say it could mark a turning point that reshapes the entire financial landscape.
The spread of dollar stablecoins could upend foreign exchange, remittance and payment settlement markets. The adoption of agentic artificial intelligence and the payment systems it requires are raising the importance of stablecoins.
South Korea, by contrast, is lagging. The country has yet to establish even a sectoral law defining and classifying digital assets, including stablecoins. Progress has stalled over arguments that major shareholders of crypto exchanges should be capped at around 15% to 20% and that banks should hold a majority stake in stablecoin issuers. If this continues, Korea is unlikely to gain global influence in the era of digital currencies.
How should Korea respond? Joseph Chalom, a former BlackRock executive who now leads Ethereum treasury strategy firm SharpLink, said on the 1st that "in the United States, there is no federal cap on ownership of crypto exchanges." He added, "Crypto trading is subject to state law, and laws differ by state, but at the federal level there is no such ownership ceiling."
He made the remarks in a dialogue with Rep. Min Byoung-dug of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's National Policy Committee, held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, and moderated by The Seoul Economic Daily.
Chalom spent about 20 years at BlackRock leading its digital asset business. When the first spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds were approved in the U.S. in 2024, he oversaw BlackRock's related business and led discussions with U.S. regulators. He also led the process through which BlackRock became the exclusive asset management partner managing reserves for USD Coin (USDC).
Asked about the Korean-style proposal requiring banks to hold "50% plus one share" of stablecoin issuers, he said, "There is no regulation in the U.S. requiring banks to hold a majority stake." Chalom said, "There is no fixed number in the U.S., such as more than 51% or more than 50%," adding, "Nor is there any rule that a bank must serve as the guarantor of regulatory compliance." He continued, "There are legal safeguards under which authorities step in when there is a share transaction above a certain size," and said, "On the regulatory side, you can operate once you obtain a license, but you can also lose that license if you fail to meet subsequent requirements."
Min agreed with Chalom's remarks. "There are two issues — whether banks must hold 50% plus one share in a stablecoin issuance consortium, and the cap on exchange ownership — and there is no country in the world where these two have become points of contention," he said. "I see this as coming from the strength of the domestic banking cartel, and I believe neither should happen."
Min said the "50% plus one share" requirement is the bigger problem. "Because exchanges will capture considerable gains, I partly agree with the view that those profits should be returned to the public," he said. "I think we can negotiate a range somewhat above the 15% or 20% currently being discussed." Min also said, "But the idea that banks are safe and everyone else is not makes no sense. This is about supervisory authorities wanting an easier job, and it is a very bad structure." He meant that granting opportunities only to banks amounts to an entry barrier that does not help innovation.
On innovation, Chalom said anyone should be able to issue stablecoins provided they meet basic core requirements: voluntary transactions, customer identification and compliance with economic sanctions, and market surveillance. Only then, he said, can market autonomy be preserved while new innovation emerges.
"When I was managing USDC reserves at BlackRock, we put transparency first, built the reserves out of the highest-quality liquid assets and disclosed the portfolio daily," he said. "We underwent external audits and, above all, had a real-time redemption mechanism so that redemptions could be met even under stressed economic conditions." Chalom added, "At the time, we raised transparency by using qualified custodians and disclosing holdings daily," and said, "Because crypto is itself highly volatile, we built in from the product design stage the principle that leverage was not needed." His broader point was that conduct regulation, rather than entry regulation, should carry more weight.
Min shared that view. The door to market participation should remain open, he said, while obligations during the course of business are clearly defined and violations are held to account. "Entry regulation creates unfairness, but with conduct regulation you bear responsibility yourself," Min said.
The two agreed that the dispute over ownership rules — rarely seen in other major economies — should be resolved quickly and that enactment of a digital asset framework act should be accelerated. With global digital asset markets rapidly being brought into regulated frameworks, they said, Korea cannot afford to remain bogged down in arguments over ownership structures.
"The market will not wait for us," Min said. "We can ask the market to wait while we draft enforcement decrees after passing a framework act, but we cannot ask the market to wait when we have done nothing at all." He added, "They say crypto taxation will take effect next year, but taxing first without creating a framework act is shameless."
Min plans to move quickly by holding a public hearing immediately after the parliamentary audit of government agencies ends, followed by a legislative subcommittee session. That would allow the bill to be discussed in the regular session of the National Assembly around Dec. 2 or Dec. 9. After one more extraordinary session, he expects the bill could be finalized in January.
Chalom also advised that the Korean government needs to move faster. "We are heading into an era where stablecoins, tokenized deposits and tokenized money market funds all coexist," he said. "From the standpoint of monetary sovereignty, Korea also needs to open and start a stablecoin market. From a corporate perspective in particular, it is extremely important that payments can be made using digital assets." He added, "I know Korea is sensitive to capital outflows after the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis. But if Korea wants to become a digital finance powerhouse, it needs a won-denominated settlement instrument, and that has to start with stablecoins."
His point was that a local stablecoin is necessary to protect monetary sovereignty given the country's large volume of foreign trade. Otherwise, he judged, dollar stablecoins will come to dominate the Korean market. "This is not a conversation about crypto; it is about building the financial system of the future," Chalom said. "What matters is putting consumers first."
Min likewise said, "From a consumer's standpoint, deposit tokens are available only to those who have deposits, and more people in the world have no deposits at all." He added, "Transactions between AI agents can only be conducted with stablecoins."
