The government will explicitly define virtual assets such as bitcoin acquired through donations or the recovery of criminal revenue as "national assets," and, in principle, put them up for auction immediately after acquisition. The current State Property Act, which is centered on real estate such as land and buildings, will be completely overhauled into the National Asset Framework Act to integrate the management of intellectual property, stocks and investment equity, and virtual assets.
On the 6th, the government announced its direction for a "major shift in the national asset management system." Although the size of state property swelled to more than 1.4027 quadrillion won as of the end of last year, the basic law remains the State Property Act enacted in 1950. The government plans to prepare a draft of the National Asset Framework Act by the end of this year, focusing on changing the concept of state property centered on "ownership and preservation" to a national asset concept centered on "active operation and value creation."
Virtual assets, which could not previously be comprehensively included as state property, will get a new legal basis for management. As of April, central government-held virtual assets amounted to about 78 billion won, but the principles for custody and management rely only on guidelines. The government will enshrine in law the basis for "entrusting to private exchanges" and "recovering assets in overseas exchanges and electronic wallets," and it is reviewing measures to make auctioning upon acquisition the principle, while allowing partitioning auctions if there are concerns about market disruption.
A government official said the aim is "to prevent arbitrary disposal of highly volatile coins that could cause losses to the treasury, or one-off sales of low-liquidity assets from shaking the market."
Intellectual property such as patents and copyrights held by the state will shift to a "utilization first" principle. The government will significantly extend the current maximum five-year license period and is considering creating a "national IP bank" that registers all national intellectual property and manages use contracts and revenue sharing. Although state-held intellectual property grew to 230 billion won as of the end of last year, management is scattered across ministries, making it difficult to grasp the current status and pursue commercial use.
Government-held stocks and investment equity will be managed under a full life cycle framework that covers acquisition, valuation, dividends, exercise of shareholder rights, and disposal. As of the end of last year, government-held securities and investment equity amounted to 328.7 trillion won.
The government will also establish a National Asset Management Committee to oversee national asset policy. It will expand and reorganize the current State Property Policy Deliberation Committee to deliberate on comprehensive national asset plans and operating directions, and each ministry will have a national asset officer. It is also considering expanding the scope of entrusted operations to the Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) and transferring or integrating management and disposal authority.