South Korea’s Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service have published a three-stage roadmap to bring stocks, bonds and funds onto distributed-ledger infrastructure, beginning when the amended Electronic Registration Act takes effect on February 4, 2027.
Phase one will cover privately pooled money market funds, private corporate bonds for institutional investors, unlisted shares issued through trust structures, and publicly offered fractional investment securities. Phase two will extend tokenization to all publicly offered securities, while phase three will introduce onchain payment infrastructure linked to stablecoins, completing the cash side of securities settlement on digital rails.
Existing licensed financial firms will be allowed to handle tokenized securities under their current licenses without separate authorization. Issuers may also manage their own securities accounts through a new issuer account management entity structure if they hold at least 4 billion won, roughly $3 million, in equity capital and meet staffing, cybersecurity and technology standards. Retail subscription limits will be set at the lower of 30 million won, about $22,000, or 5% of an issuance, while annual net purchases on over-the-counter exchanges will be capped at 100 million won, about $74,000, per platform.
FSC Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young said the ultimate goal is to upgrade capital market infrastructure for digital connectivity. The Korea Securities Depository is preparing technical infrastructure, with Samsung SDS developing a token securities platform to link electronic securities accounts with blockchain records. In a separate proof of concept, Shinhan Asset Management has signed an agreement to test a Korean won-denominated tokenized fund using Solana.
South Korea’s move parallels Japan’s national blockchain settlement study for stocks and government bonds and Singapore’s stablecoin licensing framework. Asia accounted for 30% of global stablecoin trading activity in 2025, and South Korea has 11.3 million verified crypto users, giving the roadmap substantial domestic and regional significance.
