- Kakao Pay Securities has signed MOUs with Ondo Finance and Dinari Global to explore the tokenisation and international distribution of South Korean-listed stocks.
- The partnerships could provide global investors with blockchain-based access to Korean equities.
Kakao Pay Securities has signed MOUs with both Ondo Finance and Dinari Global to explore the tokenisation and international distribution of South Korean-listed stocks. The partnership marks one of the most concrete moves yet to open Korean public markets to global investors through blockchain infrastructure, rather than the traditional and limited depositary receipt route.
Right now, international access to Korean equities is narrow. Only a subset of Korean companies have depositary receipts listed on overseas exchanges. SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest chipmakers and a trillion-dollar company, only reached Nasdaq this July. Tokenisation offers a direct alternative, one tied to the underlying share rather than a derivative instrument built around it.
What Dinari’s dShares Model Actually Does?
Dinari’s dShares are backed one-to-one by the corresponding underlying security, held with licensed custodians. Moreover, that structure is designed to preserve core shareholder rights, cash dividends, automated corporate actions, voting where applicable, redemption, and a protected claim to the backing securities.
The proof of concept will test that standard specifically on Korean-listed equities, covering issuance, redemption, reconciliation, and shareholder rights. Distribution would run through Dinari’s existing partner network, which already serves eligible investors in the United States and more than 85 jurisdictions worldwide. Also, Dinari currently provides access to 724 tokenised U.S. stocks and ETFs through this infrastructure.
What the Joint Task Force Will Cover
Kakao Pay Securities and Dinari plan to establish a joint task force later this year. In addition, the work will examine the operational and technical requirements for applying the dShares model to Korean equities, including token issuance and redemption against underlying shares, reconciliation between tokenised and underlying securities, and the infrastructure needed for international distribution.
Inyoung Chung, Executive Vice President of Kakao Pay Securities, stated:
“Through this partnership with Dinari, which has experience operating tokenized securities within the U.S. regulatory framework, we are working to develop a concrete framework for the international distribution of Korean equities. Starting with the sourcing of Korean-listed equities and advancing through a proof of concept for equity tokenization, we will carefully assess the technical feasibility and help create new pathways connecting shares of leading Korean companies with a broader global market.”
On the other hand, if the proof of concept clears technical and regulatory requirements, Korean equities could reach global investors through a channel that does not depend on which exchanges a company chooses to list on, a structural shift for both Korean public markets and the tokenised securities space more broadly.
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