South Korea charts a phased rollout for tokenized securities by 2027
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has confirmed a three-stage roadmap designed to move stocks, bonds, and investment funds onto distributed ledger infrastructure, with the final phase linking securities settlement to stablecoin-based onchain payments. The framework will formally take shape when amendments to the Electronic Registration Act come into force on February 4, 2027, opening a regulated path for conventional financial instruments to be issued and managed through blockchain-based records.
FSC Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young presented the policy at the third session of a public-private consultative body that included the Financial Supervisory Service, major financial institutions, industry associations, and outside specialists. Officials described the plan as a long-term effort to modernize capital market infrastructure so that digital connectivity becomes a native feature of securities issuance rather than an experimental overlay.
The initial phase will narrow tokenization to a defined set of instruments. Privately pooled money market funds and bonds reserved for institutional investors will become eligible, alongside unlisted equities issued through trust structures and publicly offered fractional investment products. Officials framed this stage as a controlled test environment, allowing regulators and market participants to refine technical standards before broader participation is permitted.
Technical groundwork is advancing in parallel with the legislation. Samsung SDS secured a contract earlier this year to build a token securities platform for the Korea Securities Depository, with delivery timed to coincide with the amended law’s effective date. The platform will integrate the KSD’s existing electronic securities account system with distributed ledger records, handling issuance, circulation verification, rights management, and ongoing oversight through a unified architecture.
The second phase would extend tokenization to all publicly offered securities, removing the institutional and product restrictions applied during the pilot stage. Regulators have not committed to a launch date for this expansion, noting that timing will depend on the outcomes of phase one and the speed at which financial companies adopt the required technology. National Assembly amendments passed in January already recognize distributed ledgers as valid securities registries while keeping tokenized instruments inside the country’s established securities laws.
The third and most ambitious stage would bring the cash leg of securities transactions onto digital rails by introducing onchain payment infrastructure linked to stablecoins. Officials cautioned that the timeline for this phase remains contingent on the passage of separate stablecoin legislation and the performance of earlier rollout phases. Lawmakers have been drafting a Digital Asset Framework Act intended to cover stablecoin issuance and adjacent areas of the digital asset economy, with consultations accelerated during the fall legislative session.
Operational guardrails accompany the roadmap. For non-monetary trust beneficiary certificates, individual subscriptions will be capped at the lower of 30 million won, roughly $22,000, or 5% of total issuance. Public offerings must allocate a defined portion to retail investors, with a minimum distributed equally. Investors using over-the-counter exchanges will face an annual net purchase ceiling of 100 million won, approximately $74,000, per platform. Firms already licensed for the underlying financial activity will not need additional authorization solely because they handle tokenized securities, although OTC intermediaries will require prior consultation with the Financial Supervisory Service. A new licensing category dedicated to debt securities is also planned as tokenization scales.
Private-sector pilots are already underway. Shinhan Asset Management recently signed an agreement to test a tokenized fund denominated in Korean won on the Solana network, covering investor verification, issuance, distribution, and onchain liquidity as part of a structured proof of concept. Separately, a deposit-token program has expanded to nine banks, while the Bank of Korea has explored tokenized bank deposits as potential settlement assets for tokenized bonds and equities.
South Korea’s initiative is unfolding alongside comparable efforts elsewhere in Asia. Japan is evaluating a system capable of processing publicly traded stocks and government bonds on blockchain infrastructure around the clock, with an initial development plan targeted for early 2027. Four Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group entities launched a proof of concept in August to test Japanese government bond repo settlement on the Canton Network, examining automated processing and continuous settlement windows with tokenized money or stablecoins on the payment side.
Regional momentum is supported by a sizable digital asset user base. South Korea reported 11.3 million verified crypto users according to FSC data, giving regulators a substantial domestic market as the securities framework moves toward implementation. Asia accounted for 30% of global stablecoin trading activity in 2025 and recorded the highest regional growth rate in crypto activity, according to an OECD analysis cited in the source material. The case for tokenized securities is now entering its execution phase.
The FSC intends to publish proposed revisions to subordinate regulations under the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act and the Electronic Registration Act by the end of September. Securities firms and the Korea Securities Depository will continue preparing the necessary infrastructure ahead of the first phase opening in February 2027, after which authorities will evaluate results and set timelines for the broader rollout that will eventually connect the tokenized securities market to stablecoin-driven settlement. The full trajectory underscores South Korea’s ambition to position tokenized securities as a foundational layer of its next-generation capital markets framework.
Source: https://crypto.news/south-korea-targets-2027-launch-for-tokenized-securities-market/