South Korea weighs shifting crypto exchange ownership checks to law

South Korea is considering moving controlling-shareholder checks for crypto exchanges out of its anti-money laundering regime and into a dedicated Digital Asset Basic Act, a change that could reshape how new owners are vetted and how existing exchanges are supervised.

The Financial Services Commission is reviewing the idea as lawmakers debate the broader digital asset bill, according to the National Assembly and government officials cited on June 18. The goal is to put market-entry rules for virtual-asset firms into a sector-specific framework, closer to the way banks and insurers are regulated. Right now, exchange registration and ownership-change filings sit under the Act on Reporting and Use of Certain Financial Transaction Information, a law built to stop money laundering, not to police corporate control.

That mismatch has become more than a legal quirk. Under the revised AML rules, which take effect on Aug. 20, filings can be rejected if a controlling shareholder has been fined or hit with a heavier penalty under the Fair Trade Act or the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Until now, regulators mostly looked at executives, including criminal records at the top of the company. The new standard reaches further, and that is where the risk lies for M&A deals involving exchanges.

Naver Corp. and Dunamu Inc. have ended up at the center of that debate after their stock-swap plan raised questions about shareholder eligibility. Naver was fined last year over Fair Trade Act violations tied to real estate listing data, and that penalty could matter if Naver Financial Co., a major Naver shareholder, ends up controlling Dunamu through the transaction. Under the revised rules, that history could be treated as a disqualifying factor in a change filing for Dunamu.

That is why the two companies plan to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on Aug. 18, just ahead of the Aug. 20 rule change. The timing matters. Completing the swap before the new standard applies could help them avoid a fresh ownership review under the tougher test.

For the market, the issue is bigger than one deal. South Korea is trying to decide whether crypto exchange ownership should be judged under an AML law that was never designed for corporate governance, or under a separate law built for the sector. Traders and deal watchers will be looking for the next FSC update, because any move to hard-wire ownership checks into the Digital Asset Basic Act would set the rules for future exchange tie-ups, not just Naver and Dunamu.