South Korea Advances Stablecoin Rules, Russia Defines Crypto Market and BNY Joins MiCA Register

Four jurisdictions move crypto regulation toward licensing, custody and stablecoin supervision, while Kenya lowers its proposed issuer capital threshold.

South Korea Proposes Interim Stablecoin Licensing Before Its Digital Asset Law Is Complete

South Korean policy specialists have proposed interim licensing guidance for stablecoin businesses so that issuers and payment providers do not have to wait for the country’s broader Digital Asset Basic Act. The recommendation would introduce rules in stages for stablecoin issuance, payment services and foreign-issued tokens while lawmakers continue negotiating the full market framework.

The proposal comes from a policy report published on July 29 by Hashed Open Research and the Solana Policy Institute. It summarizes a June symposium involving lawmakers, lawyers and digital-asset industry representatives. The report is advisory: it has not changed Korean law, created a license or established an implementation deadline.

Its authors argue that a phased approach could give companies an earlier answer on which activities require authorization and how won-backed stablecoins may be used in payments. The report also calls for rules governing overseas stablecoins offered to Korean users, including whether foreign issuers would need local approval, a branch, reserve safeguards or domestic custody arrangements.

Issuer ownership remains one of the unresolved questions. Policymakers have discussed a compromise under which banks would retain majority ownership while a fintech partner could manage operations, but that structure has not been adopted. The Bank of Korea has favored a bank-led model because stablecoins can affect monetary policy, foreign-exchange flows and financial stability, while industry participants warn that strict bank control could limit competition.

The Financial Services Commission is expected to work with the ruling Democratic Party on a consolidated Digital Asset Basic Act. Ten digital-asset and stablecoin proposals are already pending, but final language and a parliamentary timetable have not been announced. For businesses building crypto payment gateways or won-denominated settlement products, the immediate result is a clearer policy direction rather than a usable license.

Bank of Russia Drafts Exchange and Depository Rules Ahead of Regulated Market Launch

The Bank of Russia has published its first draft regulations for organized cryptocurrency trading and digital depositories, defining how exchanges may structure markets and how licensed custodial institutions must account for digital assets. The package is intended to prepare the infrastructure for Russia’s emerging regulated crypto market.

Under the exchange proposal, each trading venue would describe its operating regime in its own rules and calculate market and volume-weighted prices for supported digital currencies and digital rights. The central bank has also set out accounting requirements for digital currencies, information about depositors and authorized system users, and the opening and maintenance of digital accounts.

Digital depositories would become a new supervised category responsible for recording cryptocurrency and digital-right ownership. The regulator proposes minimum capital of between 50 million and 250 million rubles, depending on the institution’s activities, including whether it works with open distributed ledgers or supports post-trade settlement. Its capital must remain liquid, and the financial assets backing it must meet high credit-quality standards.

The Bank of Russia would maintain the official register of digital depositories. All draft acts have been released for regulatory impact assessment, so their detailed provisions may still change before taking effect. The framework creates a path for supervised exchanges, custody providers and crypto wallets without turning cryptocurrency into legal tender for ordinary domestic payments.

For adoption, the important result is the separation of trading, recordkeeping and settlement into identifiable regulated functions. Banks, brokers and infrastructure companies can prepare products around a defined supervisory model, while users gain clearer institutional responsibility for asset records. The rules are focused on controlled market access and custody rather than permission for Russian merchants to accept cryptocurrency inside the country.

BNY Gains MiCA Authorization as Europe’s Register Reaches 309 Providers

BNY’s Belgian subsidiary has entered the European Union’s MiCA register with authorization to provide crypto-asset custody and transfer services. The addition gives the global financial institution a regulated route to extend digital-asset infrastructure through its established European banking operation.

The National Bank of Belgium authorized BNY SA/NV on July 20. ESMA included the entity in its July 24 update to the interim Markets in Crypto-Assets register, alongside 14 other newly listed crypto-asset service providers. The update brought the number of distinct authorized providers reported across European markets to 309.

ESMA’s register is assembled from information supplied by national competent authorities and is updated weekly. It covers authorized crypto-asset service providers, token issuers, published white papers and entities identified as non-compliant. A register entry therefore gives users and businesses a central way to verify whether a provider has received authorization and which services it can offer.

BNY’s authorization is especially relevant because the subsidiary is already an important European custody bank. MiCA allows that traditional operational base to connect with crypto custody and asset-transfer services under a common EU rulebook. This can reduce the need for institutional clients to separate conventional custody and digital-asset operations across unrelated providers.

The entry does not mean that every BNY service automatically supports every cryptocurrency or retail customer. It establishes the permitted service categories and supervisory home of the European entity. For institutional adoption, it shows how large banks are entering regulated crypto finance services through existing licensed subsidiaries instead of creating isolated offshore operations.

Kenya Cuts Proposed Stablecoin Issuer Capital by 40% While Keeping Reserve Controls

Kenya’s National Treasury has reportedly reduced the proposed minimum paid-up capital for stablecoin issuers from 500 million to 300 million Kenyan shillings, a 40% cut that lowers the planned entry threshold to approximately $2.32 million. The revision makes licensing more accessible than the earlier draft, although stablecoin issuance would remain one of the most capital-intensive virtual-asset activities in the country.

The revised framework places stablecoin issuers and wallet providers under the Central Bank of Kenya. Wallet businesses would face a lower paid-up capital threshold of 150 million shillings. Stablecoin issuers would also need liquid capital of at least 60 million shillings or an amount equal to current liabilities, depending on which requirement is higher.

Lower capital does not mean lighter reserve supervision. Fiat-backed stablecoins would have to maintain one-to-one backing in the currency to which they are pegged. Reserve assets would be segregated from operating funds and protected from issuer creditors. At least 30% of customer funds would be kept in segregated accounts at Kenyan commercial banks, with the remainder invested in eligible liquid assets.

The proposed rules also require monthly reserve and transaction reporting, quarterly stress testing and redemption at face value within two business days. Interest and rewards based on how long a customer holds a stablecoin would be prohibited. These controls are intended to make payment tokens redeemable and prevent issuers from operating like unlicensed deposit-taking institutions.

For companies seeking to offer USDT, locally issued stablecoins or wallet services in Kenya, the capital reduction improves the economics of entry but does not remove the need for local compliance infrastructure. The combination of a lower threshold and strict reserve rules signals that Kenya wants more licensed competition without weakening redemption and consumer-protection requirements.

Taken together, the four events show regulators moving beyond general crypto policy and defining operational responsibilities: who may issue stablecoins, who can custody assets, how exchanges calculate prices and which reserves must protect users. That clarity can support wider adoption, but businesses still need to distinguish advisory reports and draft regulations from licenses and rules that are already in force.