PANews June 11th News: According to South Korean media Newsis, the governor of the Bank of Korea, Lee Chang-yong, is expected to meet with senior executives of major commercial banks in Seoul on June 23rd. On that day, Li Changyong plans to attend the regular board meeting of the banking industry, and then have dinner with the ceos of major banks and may discuss the matter of stablecoins.
This meeting comes at a time when the political circle in South Korea is increasingly interested in promoting the development of stablecoins supported by the South Korean won. South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae-myeong, has long been an advocate of cryptocurrencies. After being elected president in the interim election on June 3rd, he promised to legalize the Bitcoin spot ETF and introduce a regulated stablecoin market to prevent capital outflows. Previously, on May 29th, Lee Chang-yong publicly stated that he was not opposed to the South Korean won pegged to stablecoins, but emphasized that the central bank needs to directly intervene in the approval process to reduce the potential impact of stablecoins on core functions such as monetary policy, financial stability, and payment settlement.
In addition, last week, Democratic Party lawmaker Min Byung-deok proposed the “Basic Digital Assets Act”, which includes provisions allowing the issuance of stablecoins pegged to the South Korean won and lowering the capital requirements for issuers, opening the door for fintech companies. However, the Bank of Korea has previously expressed concerns about stablecoins, especially non-bank issuers, as it believes that this model could undermine monetary policy and trigger financial instability during a crisis as interest in central bank digital currencies wanes. Recently, Lee Jong-yeol, the vice governor of the central bank, also confirmed that the central bank is exploring deposit tokens related to blockchain as a more limited alternative. At the same time, he expressed concerns about the spread of international stablecoins, calling it the “most worrying part” of South Korea’s digital asset sector.
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