On January 20th, the Korea Financial Supervisory Service (FSC) announced a major development. According to The Korea Herald, the long-anticipated reform plan by regulators has finally surfaced—the hidden rule that has troubled the industry for years, "one exchange can only be linked to one bank," is about to be completely broken.

For a long time, this rule acted as an invisible shackles. Leading platforms like Upbit and Bithumb barely survived, while smaller exchanges had no room to operate. Market concentration became excessively high, and user experience suffered—frequent outages, liquidity shortages, and slow withdrawal speeds. While it appeared to be a measure for anti-money laundering compliance, it effectively evolved into a de facto monopoly barrier.

Regulators have evidently recognized the drawbacks of this old approach. The new reform plan includes several key breakthroughs: exchanges will be able to connect with multiple banks, enabling genuine competition; crypto derivatives (futures, options, etc.) can be officially launched for trading; corporate accounts will also gain clear trading qualifications. These changes will be incorporated into the upcoming revision of the "Basic Law on Digital Assets" in its second phase.

Even more surprisingly, the ruling party and the opposition have reached a rare consensus on these core issues, with the progress moving significantly faster than expected. According to the current timetable, the entire plan is expected to complete review by the first half of 2026. For Korea’s crypto market, this could mean a brand new competitive landscape and liquidity release.