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Across Asia-Pacific, digital assets continued their unstoppable march into the mainstream financial system, with South Korea moving toward tokenized stocks and bonds, Australia tightening its licensing requirements, and Taiwan preparing new stablecoin rules.
- South Korea sets phased path for tokenized securities
- Australia sets deadline for unlicensed <a href="https://xpertsstudio.com/bitcoin-takes-79-of-crypto-etf-weekly-inflows-as-funds-add-1-24b/” title=”Bitcoin Takes 79% of Crypto ETF Weekly Inflows as Funds Add $1.24B”>crypto firms
- Taiwan moves closer to stablecoin rules by 2027
The three approaches differ, but together point to a broader trend of governments and regulators favoring a more regulated, institutionally integrated digital-asset market, and an approach of responsibly supporting innovation.
South Korea opts for phased rollout of tokenized securities
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has announced a three-stage roadmap for institutionalizing tokenized securities ahead of the framework’s implementation on February 4, 2027. The plan includes building infrastructure to expand token securities issuance beyond fractional investment products to include existing securities such as stocks, bonds, and funds.
On September 4, the FSC and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)—South Korea’s financial policymaking and regulatory authority, and the enforcement body that conducts financial inspections and oversees compliance, respectively—announced the “Policy Direction for Token Securities” during the third meeting of the Public-Private Joint Tokenized Securities Consultative Body, an official regulatory body established by the FSC in March to help develop the legal framework, system infrastructure and policy guidelines for integrating security token offerings (STOs) into the country’s capital markets.
Amendments to South Korea’s Act on Electronic Registration of Stocks and Bonds, also known as the Electronic Securities Act, establish a legal framework for using distributed ledger technology (DLT) in securities registration and provide a statutory basis for a broader tokenized securities regime. This amended framework is due to take full effect on February 4, 2027. It is intended to provide the legal basis for issuing and registering securities in tokenized form, including fractional-investment and investment-contract securities.
Under the regulators’ newly revealed policy direction, the initial rollout will focus on specific products, including private money market funds (MMFs) and private bonds for institutional investors, as well as unlisted stocks tokenized through trusts.
The regulators are also pursuing the tokenization of existing and standard securities such as stocks, bonds, and funds, but rather than introducing these products all at once, the FSC and FSS have outlined a phased approach intended to promote market stability while supporting innovation.
“We will not let token securities stay only in fragmented investment,” FSC Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young told the meeting in his opening remarks. “We will lay the foundation for issuing and trading existing financial products such as stocks, bonds, and funds through a strategic and step-by-step approach.”
The three-stage roadmap for expanding tokenized securities and enabling stablecoin-based on-chain settlement will start in February of next year. In phase one, private MMFs and private bonds will be eligible for issuance as tokens exclusively for institutional investors, and unlisted stocks can be tokenized through trusts.
The regulators will also establish the infrastructure needed to support these transactions, includingorms operating under their existing licenses, while retail investors will be subject to an annual net purchase limit of 100 million won (around US$74,000) per exchange
The second phase will expand the infrastructure to publicly offered securities, while the third phase will connect stablecoins and other digital assets as payment methods to enable on-chain settlement.
“We will connect the entire value chain of securities issuance, transaction, liquidation, settlement, exercise of rights, and basic assets from the perspective of a single digital capital market,” FSC Vice Chairman Kwon said. “We will create a new digital capital market in a way that innovation is led by the market and trust is supported by the government.”
Under the new policy direction, fractional-investment products will also be diversified, with multiple underlying assets able to be pooled into a single fractional-investment security—provided they satisfy certain conditions, including being of the same type and carrying the same rights, the purpose for pooling must be clearly defined, and distressed assets are excluded.
South Korea’s approach seeks to regulate tokenized securities and also treat tokenization as a potential upgrade to the architecture of the capital markets themselves.
In other words, the regulators are looking beyond simply creating new investment products, to actually laying the groundwork for existing financial instruments to be issued, traded, and eventually settled in digital form.
As tokenization moves closer to mainstream financial infrastructure, regulators elsewhere are confronting a different but related question: how should existing financial rules be adapted to bring digital asset businesses into the regulatory perimeter?
Australia warns unlicensed crypto firms of fines
Australian digital asset firms relying on temporary regulatory relief have until September 30 to apply for a financial services license or risk penalties, including fines of up to 10% of their annual turnover.
On September 2, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)—the country’s corporate, markets, and financial services regulator—said digital asset firms relying on temporary regulatory relief have until September 30 to apply for a financial services license or risk penalties, including fines reaching 10% of their annual turnover.
The deadline comes from ASIC’s ‘no-action relief’ under the existing financial services regime, a transitional period during which digital asset businesses could continue to operate without a license or having applied for one, and the regulator would not take action against them.
Separately, Australia’s Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026 (Cth)—which received Royal Assent on April 8, 2026, and will come into effect on April 9, 2027—will establish a dedicated statutory framework for digital asset platforms within the existing corporations and financial services regime, bringing digital asset platforms, custodians, and certain token platforms within the AFSL framework.
Instead of creating an entirely separate regulatory regime, the Act embedded digital asset regulation into the existing Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) structure.
Meaning, regulated digital asset firms will face AFSL licensing and ongoing obligations, including governance and risk controls, custody and asset-safeguarding standards, recordkeeping, disclosure and consumer-protection requirements, market-conduct restrictions, as well as existing financial-services obligations applicable to their activities.
In June of this year, ASIC extended its ‘no-action’ position, giving firms an extra three months to apply for a license or to signal a winding-up of activity.
“From 1 October, firms that need a licence or variation to their existing authorisation but have not met the conditions of ASIC’s no-action position risk breaching financial services law and could face civil and criminal penalties,” ASIC warned. “The end of ASIC’s transitional relief for digital assets businesses is a key step in bringing the digital asset industry into a regulated environment, supporting consumer protection and market integrity.”
The regulator said that since it updated its guidance in October 2025, it has recorded over 45 license applications from businesses seeking relevant authorizations to provide financial services relating to digital assets.
Firms that need an Australian Market license or a Clearing and Settlement (CS) facility license were also reminded to notify ASIC in writing of their intention to apply and to hold a pre-application meeting with the regulator by September 30.
Australia’s framework can therefore be seen less as a means of transforming traditional securities infrastructure than as a means of establishing clear boundaries around the businesses operating in the digital-asset economy.
Its September licensing deadline marks an important step in that process, as firms that have operated under temporary regulatory relief are being required to make a choice: obtain the necessary authorization or leave activities that fall within the financial services regime.
That emphasis on licensing and oversight is also emerging elsewhere in the region, although with different priorities. In Taiwan, regulators are preparing detailed rules on one of the subsections of digital assets that has been a particular focus for authorities and governments around the globe: stablecoins.
Taiwan stablecoin regulations could take effect in early 2027
Taiwan is edging closer to a comprehensive stablecoin regime, with new rules potentially coming into force as early as the first quarter of 2027.
On September 2, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman, Peng Jinlong, said that global discussions around digital assets and stablecoins have moved beyond “whether to develop” to “how to properly regulate them.”
Peng’s comments came at the ‘FinTechOn 2026 and the Asian Fintech Alliance’ in Taipei on September 2, during which the FSC chief said the regulator is currently working on nine subsidiary regulations needed to implement the country’s recently passed digital asset legislation, according to local outlet United Daily News.
Amongst the nine is draft stablecoin regulations, which are expected to be officially announced and implemented as early as the first quarter of next year.
Taiwan’s legislature passed the ‘Virtual Asset Service Act’ in its third reading on June 30, establishing a licensing framework for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), including exchangers, trading platform operators, custodians, underwriters, and lenders.
The Act includes requirements regarding the qualifications of responsible persons and personnel, internal control and audit systems, cybersecurity management, mechanisms for reviewing the listing and delisting of virtual assets, segregation of customer assets, outsourcing arrangements, civil liability to customers, and financial reporting obligations, among others.
It also brings new rules for stablecoin issuers in Taiwan, who will need to obtain approval from both the Central Bank and the FSC, maintain full reserve backing—with segregated reserve assets held in trust—conduct regular audits, and comply with periodic information disclosure requirements.
Those who fall foul of the new rules could face up to 10 years in prison and fines between NT$10 million (US$ 315,736) and NT$200 million (US$ 6,314,726).
During his recent summit address, Peng said the FSC is now also working on nine subsidiary regulations needed to implement the legislation, which includes new stablecoin requirements, with the regulator targeting the first quarter of next year for their publication and implementation.
The FSC chairman didn’t go into specifics on the new requirements but reportedly said that after the new law is implemented, Taiwan’s virtual asset and stablecoin markets will enter a new stage of development, one where rapid developments in artificial intelligence and blockchain technology push the country toward a model in which traditional finance, digital finance, and blockchain-based finance operate hand in hand.
Taken together, the developments in South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan suggest that the region’s digital-asset markets are entering a more institutional phase, with the question no longer being simply how blockchain-based products can be introduced, but how they can coexist and integrate with existing financial systems, without compromising market integrity, investor protection, or financial stability.
The timelines differ, so too the regulatory models, but the direction of travel for regulators across the region is the same: moving digital finance away from the margins and toward the regulated financial system.
Source: coingeek.com