South Korea is preparing a new national asset law that would bring government-held virtual assets into the country’s formal public-property management system.
The Ministry of Finance and Economy placed the National Asset Basic Act inside its July 15 policy program, opening an overhaul of a framework built around the State Property Act enacted in 1950. The planned law would cover newer asset classes, including virtual assets and intellectual property, with separate management structures for real estate, financial holdings and intangible assets.
The proposal does not classify every privately held cryptocurrency as a national asset. It would establish how virtual assets owned, seized, received or otherwise controlled by public bodies are recorded and managed alongside other government property.
K-Asset Project Targets 1,400 Trillion Won Portfolio
South Korea manages more than 1,400 trillion won in national assets. The existing system remains centered on preserving, leasing, developing and selling land and buildings, despite later amendments expanding the statutory scope to securities, intellectual property and other rights.
The National Asset Basic Act would move that portfolio toward active asset management and combine holdings across the central government, local governments and public institutions through the K-Asset project. The government also plans an artificial intelligence-based management system covering the wider public portfolio.
Separate operating standards are expected for asset classes with different custody, valuation and transfer requirements. State-controlled crypto introduces issues that do not apply to land or conventional securities, including private-key custody, wallet access, transaction tracing, market liquidity and the treatment of tokens obtained through criminal forfeiture or tax enforcement.
The legislation remains a government proposal. No final bill text, implementation date or detailed custody framework for public-sector virtual assets has been released.
Crypto Policy Expands Beyond Trading Rules
The national asset overhaul forms part of a wider digital-finance program covering blockchain-based government bond tokenization, central bank digital currency development and new legislation for crypto and stablecoins. The government’s second-half growth strategy also calls for the institutionalization of digital assets and a legal framework for domestic stablecoin activity.
South Korea has been developing stablecoin rules and a route for spot crypto ETFs under the next phase of its digital asset framework. Issuer eligibility, reserve requirements, redemption protections and the treatment of foreign stablecoins remain central policy questions.
The country’s financial sector is also moving deeper into tokenized capital markets. KB Kookmin Bank issued a $100 million digital dollar bond through HSBC Orion in June, placing a regulated Korean bank inside the same shift toward blockchain-based issuance and settlement.
The National Asset Basic Act must still move through drafting and the National Assembly before it can replace or restructure the current state-property regime.
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