South Korea's KOSDAQ Overhaul Puts Crypto Treasury Companies on Thin Ice

South Korea is tightening its grip on publicly listed companies that hold cryptocurrencies as core assets, with sweeping changes to KOSDAQ regulations set to take effect on July 1. The revised rules place Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) firms — businesses that stockpile Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets much like traditional companies hold cash or bonds — directly in the line of fire.

The DAT model gained global momentum after Strategy (formerly known as MicroStrategy) popularized the approach in the United States, and Japan's Metaplanet subsequently embraced a similar playbook. South Korean firms followed suit, riding Bitcoin's strong performance over the past year to generate substantial paper profits. Now, those very gains may trigger regulatory scrutiny under the new compliance framework.

Under the updated KOSDAQ rules, listed companies will be required to maintain a market capitalization of at least 200 billion KRW (approximately $145 million USD) by the close of 2026. That threshold then rises to 300 billion KRW (roughly $217 million USD) starting in January 2027. Any company that fails to sustain the minimum market cap for 30 consecutive trading days will be placed under managed stock status. From that point, the firm has just 90 days to demonstrate recovery — specifically by maintaining the required capitalization for at least 45 consecutive trading days — or face automatic delisting from the exchange.

The stakes are particularly high for DAT crypto firms because their balance sheets are heavily tied to volatile digital assets. A sustained Bitcoin price drop could push their valuations below the regulatory floor at any moment, leaving them vulnerable to the accelerated delisting process.

Among the most prominent players in South Korea's emerging DAT sector is Bitplanet, widely regarded as the country's first treasury-focused listed crypto vehicle. Formed in July 2025 through the acquisition of KOSDAQ-listed company SGA by a consortium that included Asia Strategy and Sora Ventures, Bitplanet currently holds 300 BTC with an ambitious long-term target of 10,000 BTC. CEO Lee Seong-hoon has openly acknowledged that Strategy and Metaplanet served as the blueprint for the company's strategy.

Bitplanet is not limiting itself to passive crypto accumulation. The company recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Nasdaq-listed Antalpha to deploy Bitcoin mining hardware worth approximately 15 billion Korean won (around $10.8 million) at operational sites in Oman and Paraguay. In addition, plans for AI data center infrastructure are expected to generate a secondary revenue stream, diversifying the business beyond its core treasury function.

The broader regulatory shift reflects South Korea's increasingly assertive approach to digital asset oversight. Authorities have been systematically tightening rules across the entire crypto ecosystem — from capping ownership stakes in cryptocurrency exchanges to developing stablecoin governance frameworks. The latest KOSDAQ amendments extend that regulatory pressure into the realm of publicly listed companies with crypto exposure.

South Korea remains one of the world's largest and most active retail cryptocurrency markets, making the outcome of these regulatory decisions especially consequential. Whether DAT companies can navigate the new market cap requirements through transparent reporting and business diversification — or whether the stricter thresholds will trigger a wave of delistings — remains an open and pressing question for the sector as the July 1 deadline approaches.