Ripple, Meritz Securities Review Digital-Asset Infrastructure in Korea
The partnership will assess Ripple Custody and tokenization infrastructure for South Korea’s capital markets, while potential services involving ETFs, stablecoins and tokenized securities remain under review.
Meritz Securities and Ripple will examine whether Ripple Custody and Ripple’s tokenization infrastructure can support South Korea’s capital markets, extending the companies’ cooperation as the country develops rules for tokenized securities.
The companies signed the strategic partnership Oct. 1 at Meritz Securities’ headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. Meritz CEO Jang Won-jae and Ripple President Monica Long attended the signing.
The initial review will remain within existing securities and digital-asset rules. The companies plan to expand cooperation in stages as South Korea’s regulatory framework develops, but the agreement does not commit either side to a commercial launch.
Meritz is also examining potential businesses involving spot digital-asset exchange-traded funds, fractional-investment products, tokenized securities, digital-asset trading platforms and won-denominated stablecoins. Those areas remain under review and are not announced products.
Ripple Custody is part of Ripple’s institutional digital-asset infrastructure offering. Ripple’s earlier work in Korea includes an April announcement involving Kyobo Life Insurance on blockchain-based settlement for tokenized South Korean government bonds.
South Korea is developing a tokenized-securities framework that covers products such as stocks, bonds and funds. The framework would bring blockchain-based issuance and management of those assets further into the country’s securities system. Tokenized securities represent financial assets on a blockchain, while custody services are used to safeguard and manage digital assets.
The Meritz partnership does not specify whether a future service would use XRP, Ripple USD (RLUSD) or the XRP Ledger. No specific product, customer group or launch date has been announced.
The review follows South Korea’s proposed tokenized-securities rules, which are part of the country’s broader effort to establish a formal market structure for blockchain-based financial products.
John Kim
John Kim reports on the digital-asset business for TokenPost. Send corrections or tips to info@tokenpost.com.