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| Dimension |
Pinned 🇱🇻 Latvia partly open Verified 2026-08-15
|
🇰🇷 South Korea
partly open
Verified 2026-08-15
|
|---|---|---|
| Licence type | MiCA CASP authorisation under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, administered nationally by Latvijas Banka; specific Latvian implementing statute name not confirmed in this research pass. | VASP registration (not a discretionary licence) under the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information (the 'FTRA'/AML Reporting Act, amended effective 25 Mar 2021), which requires: (1) ISMS certification from KISA (Korea Internet & Security Agency); (2) for KRW fiat on/off-ramp services, a bank-issued real-name verified account; plus fit-and-proper/AML program requirements. Layered on top since 19 July 2024 is the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users (VAUPA), which adds customer-asset segregation, insurance/reserve, and market-abuse rules but does not replace the underlying FTRA registration. |
| Regulator | Latvijas Banka (Bank of Latvia) is the lead CASP licensing/supervisory authority; sources note some residual/overlapping role for the FCMC on broader financial-market alignment, not fully reconciled in this pass. | Financial Services Commission (FSC), Korea's top financial policymaker; Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU, also referred to as FIU), an FSC-subordinate unit established 2001 under the FTRA that receives and processes VASP registrations and AML reporting; day-to-day supervision/inspection is delegated to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), which set up dedicated Virtual Asset Supervision/Investigation bureaus (announced 29 Nov 2023). FSC retains final sanctioning authority. |
| Capital requirement | Latvia capital requirement is included in the £349 pass. | South Korea capital requirement is included in the £349 pass. |
| Timeline to authorisation | Latvia timeline to authorisation is included in the £349 pass. | South Korea timeline to authorisation is included in the £349 pass. |
| Local substance | Latvia local substance is included in the £349 pass. | South Korea local substance is included in the £349 pass. |
| Application cost | Latvia application cost is included in the £349 pass. | South Korea application cost is included in the £349 pass. |
| Ongoing cost | Latvia ongoing cost is included in the £349 pass. | South Korea ongoing cost is included in the £349 pass. |
| Passporting | Latvia passporting is included in the £349 pass. | South Korea passporting is included in the £349 pass. |
| MiCA CASPs approved | Latvia mica casps approved is included in the £349 pass. | South Korea mica casps approved is included in the £349 pass. |
| Key restrictions | Latvia key restrictions is included in the £349 pass. | South Korea key restrictions is included in the £349 pass. |
| Recent changes | Latvijas Banka has issued multiple CASP licences during 2025-2026, including to SIA AlphaRoute and Backpack, and reportedly Paybis (May 2026, per one directory source). Latvia offers free pre-licensing consultations and a formal Innovation Hub. | The 20 Aug 2026 tightening is now identifiable as Act No. 21358 (amendment to the FTRA/AML Reporting Act), promulgated 19 Feb 2026 and taking effect 20 Aug 2026. It removes the KRW 1,000,000 Travel Rule de minimis threshold and separately expands VASP entry screening: adds a statutory definition of major shareholders, extends fit-and-proper disqualification checks to major shareholders, adds financial condition, social credibility, organisational, staffing and IT review factors, and authorises KoFIU to attach conditions when accepting a VASP report. Existing registered VASPs must re-report under the amended Article 7 within 3 months of the effective date (by approximately 20 Nov 2026). Separately, a Foreign Exchange Transactions Act amendment creating cross-border VASP registration passed 7 May 2026 (effective date disputed, 2 Aug vs 2 Dec 2026). The FSC's implementing-decree package (public comment 30 March to 11 May 2026) adds entry screening for VASP re-reports: a debt-ratio ceiling of 200 per cent excluding customer deposits, a three-year clean default record, fit-and-proper tests for officers and major shareholders, and AML staffing requirements; it removes the KRW 1,000,000 Travel Rule de minimis entirely and treats cross-border transfers of KRW 10,000,000 or more to foreign VASPs or private wallets as automatically suspicious. |
| Difficulty rating | Latvia difficulty rating is included in the £349 pass. | South Korea difficulty rating is included in the £349 pass. |
Informational only, not legal advice. A delta compares the sortable figure only (capital, timeline, cost, difficulty, passporting, approvals); it is not a judgement on overall suitability. Verify with qualified counsel before acting.
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