South Korea Plans Tokenized Stocks, Bonds and Funds Under New Roadmap

South Korea plans to broaden its tokenized-securities framework to stocks, bonds and funds, expanding the market beyond fractional-investment products and creating a regulated path for more traditional assets.

The Financial Services Commission said the rollout will follow a phased roadmap tied to revised versions of the Act on Electronic Registration of Stocks and Bonds and the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act. The changes are scheduled to take effect Feb. 4, 2027.

The first phase will target privately pooled money-market funds and bonds reserved for institutional investors, along with unlisted stocks issued through a trust structure. Publicly offered fractional-investment securities will also be included.

The plan treats tokenized securities as a digital form of existing securities rather than a separate asset class. The commission also outlined investor-protection rules for over-the-counter trading platforms, including annual net-purchase limits for retail investors, and registration requirements for issuers that want to manage customer accounts.

A later phase could open tokenization to all publicly offered securities. The roadmap also calls for eventual on-chain settlement infrastructure linked to stablecoins, although the timing of those later steps remains flexible.

South Korea’s revised framework is scheduled to begin with the first phase on Feb. 4, 2027.