South Korea Cuts Out Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Considerations: Report

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By Shaurya Malwa|Edited by Omkar Godbole

Mar 17, 2025, 8:49 a.m. UTC

South Korea flag (Planet Volumes / Unsplash)

The Bank of Korea (BOK) has expressed reservations about including bitcoin in its foreign exchange reserves due to its price instability and potential risk to reserves.
The BOK also stated that bitcoin does not meet the International Monetary Fund’s foreign exchange reserve management standards, which emphasize prudent management of liquidity, market, and credit risks.

South Korea’s central bank, the Bank of Korea (BOK), has taken a cautious stance on including bitcoin in its foreign exchange reserves, per a Korea Economic Daily report.

In response to a question posed by a member of the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee, the BOK made it clear on Sunday that it has not entertained the notion of embracing BTC.

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The primary deterrent for the BOK is bitcoin’s notorious price instability, where the central bank fears that the wild swings in the crypto market could substantially inflate transaction costs when converting bitcoin to cash, posing a significant risk to its reserves.

The BOK further pointed out that bitcoin fails to meet the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) foreign exchange reserve management standards. The IMF emphasizes the importance of prudently managing liquidity, market, and credit risks — criteria that bitcoin, with its erratic nature, does not satisfy.

South Korea enjoys a flourishing crypto ecosystem, with local startups, tokens, exchanges and firms contributing billions of dollars in daily trading volumes within a relatively insular crypto market.

BTC trades over $83,400 in Asian afternoon hours, down 1% over the past 24 hours.

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis.
Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA.
He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.