Can virtual assets be donated? Even when individuals or companies holding virtual assets wished to participate in donations for public interest purposes, doing so had been difficult. This was because no official procedure had been established for non-profit corporations to receive and convert such assets into cash within the institutional framework.
However, virtual asset donations, which had long remained only a possibility, have now begun to actually materialize.
The Institutionalization of Virtual Asset Donations
In June 2025, the financial authorities announced guidelines for the sale of virtual assets by non-profit corporations and virtual asset exchanges, and permitted qualified non-profit corporations to open real-name accounts for selling such assets. These guidelines are significant in that they focus on ensuring internal control systems for non-profit corporations and virtual asset exchanges, imposing pre- and post-sale disclosure obligations, and preventing money laundering. The conditions of public interest and transparent operation necessary for virtual assets to be utilized as public benefit resources have thus been institutionally established.
[Comparison of Sale Guidelines for Non-Profit Corporations and Virtual Asset Exchanges © Financial Services Commission]
How Virtual Asset Donations Are Operated
From December 18, 2025, to March 18, 2026, Korbit, South Korea’s first virtual asset exchange, and the non-profit corporation Social Solidarity Bank conducted a virtual asset donation campaign to support the self-reliance of vulnerable groups. Korbit utilized its technical capabilities to build a donation platform environment and support donors in safely and conveniently donating virtual assets. The donations raised through the campaign will be used to strengthen the foundation for self-reliance of vulnerable groups supported by the Social Solidarity Bank. This campaign is an example demonstrating the conditions and procedures required for virtual asset donations to be converted into actual public benefit resources.
[Korbit x Social Solidarity Bank Virtual Asset Donation Campaign Representative Image © Social Solidarity Bank]
In the specific operational stages of the campaign, the two organizations verified whether participants qualified as related parties based on the participant list, and established operating procedures for a Virtual Asset Donation Review Committee, disclosing the appropriateness of the donations and the monetization plan to internal and external stakeholders. They also enhanced operational transparency by proceeding with monetization without delay according to the schedule announced by the Review Committee and informing participants of the results.
Beyond Investment Instruments, Toward Tools for Giving
The Social Solidarity Bank announced its plan to use the virtual asset donations raised through this campaign for the ‘Together Warmth Fund.’ The Together Warmth Fund is a social finance fund operated by the Social Solidarity Bank, aimed at supporting the livelihood stability and financial education of the financially vulnerable.
[Korbit x Social Solidarity Bank Virtual Asset Donation Campaign Image © Social Solidarity Bank]
This campaign, in which Korbit and the Social Solidarity Bank collaborated, demonstrated the possibility that virtual assets — which had until now only been used as investment vehicles and means of payment — can play a role as social finance and be connected to sustainable funding sources. The campaign is also a meaningful attempt in that participants familiar with existing financial structures and asset flows resonated with the fund operation model in which they help those outside the institutional financial system achieve self-reliance and ensure that such support continues steadily.
This campaign, which has broadened the scope of virtual asset utilization by one step, will serve as one answer to the question of how companies can design virtual asset donations for public interest purposes and build the trust of donation participants.
by Editor L