Key Takeaways
- South Korea ends 9-year ban on corporate crypto investments.
- Public companies can now invest up to 5% of their equity in the top 20 crypto assets.
- Meanwhile, Japan and Hong Kong are cracking down on DATs.
As regulators in APAC grow more cautious about corporate exposure to crypto, South Korea is moving in the opposite direction.
While jurisdictions such as Hong Kong and Japan are tightening oversight and curbing corporate crypto activity, Seoul is opening the door for companies to hold crypto on their balance sheets.
Under the country’s pro-crypto administration, corporate entities are now permitted to allocate a portion of their equity to digital assets, albeit within a regulated framework.
This marks a notable policy shift at a time when enthusiasm for corporate crypto treasuries is fading elsewhere.
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South Korea Ends 9-Year Crypto Institutional Drought
South Korea has historically maintained strict crypto rules, including a nine-year prohibition on corporate investments in cryptocurrencies.
That restriction left the market largely in the hands of retail traders, contributing to significant capital outflows.
Approximately $110 billion in crypto assets left the country in 2025 due to a lack of domestic opportunities.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) will now allow public companies and professional investors to allocate up to 5% of their equity capital to cryptocurrencies.
Eligible assets include the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization traded on South Korea’s five major exchanges.
This change opens the door for public companies and institutional investors to add Bitcoin (BTC) and other major digital assets to their balance sheets.
At the same time, discussions regarding the inclusion of stablecoins continue.
The new framework aligns with South Korea’s 2026 Economic Growth Strategy and signals a clear policy shift toward institutional participation.
As a result, South Korean firms could soon enter the corporate crypto treasury arena, following models seen at companies like Strategy and Metaplanet.
Hong Kong and Japan Pull Back on Crypto DATs
While South Korea is opening the door to corporate crypto investment, other major Asian markets are quietly heading in the opposite direction.
Hong Kong and Japan—both early adopters of crypto regulation and once enthusiastic supporters of digital asset products—have begun reining in corporate crypto treasury strategies as market volatility exposes the risks of holding large amounts of digital assets on company balance sheets.
Following a surge in interest in DATs during the 2024–2025 rally, falling prices and sharp stock swings have prompted regulators in both jurisdictions to intervene.
By early 2026, Hong Kong and Japan had either introduced or proposed measures aimed at mitigating excessive corporate exposure to digital assets, citing concerns over speculation, investor protection, and broader financial stability.
Hong Kong Moves To Contain Treasury Speculation
Hong Kong has positioned itself as a regulated crypto hub, embracing spot ETFs and licensed exchanges, but that openness has come with tighter guardrails.
In December 2025, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) launched a consultation aimed at expanding oversight of crypto advisory and asset management services.
While not explicitly banning DATs, the proposal signals a clear intent to curb highly speculative corporate strategies.
At the same time, Hong Kong’s stock exchange has grown more cautious.
In 2025 alone, it rejected at least five listing applications from companies whose valuations were heavily tied to Bitcoin holdings, flagging concerns over volatility and risk concentration.
Regulators have also targeted institutional exposure. The Insurance Authority proposed a 100% risk charge on insurers’ crypto holdings late last year.
This effectively made large treasury allocations prohibitively expensive from a capital standpoint.
Japan Tightens Oversight After Treasury Boom Turns Volatile
Japan’s response has been shaped by a different concern: the market fallout from companies rushing into “Bitcoin treasury” strategies during the 2025 bull run.
As crypto prices swung sharply, several firms saw their stock prices move almost entirely in lockstep with digital asset markets, raising red flags about disclosure, governance, and investor risk.
In response, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has signaled plans to shift crypto oversight from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) by 2026.
The change would treat crypto more like securities, introducing stricter disclosure requirements, insider trading rules, and enhanced compliance standards.
Companies holding large crypto positions would face tougher audit requirements and tighter scrutiny over how those assets are valued and disclosed.
The Japan Exchange Group (JPX), which operates the Tokyo Stock Exchange, has also stepped in.
In November 2025, it announced measures aimed at curbing what it described as “crypto hoarding” by listed firms, including stricter backdoor listing rules, enhanced audits, and potential caps on digital assets as a share of corporate treasuries.
JPX has already issued warnings to several companies whose valuations became overly dependent on crypto holdings and is reviewing limits on fundraising for firms deemed overexposed.
