South Korea’s KB Securities Plans to Move Traditional Assets Onchain

Phased Rollout Plan

South Korea’s KB Securities has entered into a strategic collaboration with digital asset tokenization platform Securitize and blockchain organization The Optimism Foundation to develop and distribute tokenized financial products for domestic institutional investors.

The agreement brings together KB Securities’ capital markets distribution capabilities, Securitize’s regulated issuance platform, and Optimism’s Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain technology.

The initiative marks a major move by a South Korean brokerage firm to bring traditional real-world assets onchain. According to a media statement, the rollout will occur in stages, with the initial phase targeting institutional liquidity products, beginning with a tokenized money market fund issued on OP Mainnet. This will be followed by a tokenized investment vehicle built around a flagship strategy managed by KB Asset Management.

As local regulatory frameworks mature, the companies plan to expand into tokenized equities, American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), corporate debt, and South Korean government bonds. The final phase will see KB Securities explore pathways to offer established global tokenized funds to South Korean institutional asset managers and wholesale clients.

Kang Jin-doo, CEO of KB Securities, praised the agreement, noting that it comes as asset tokenization grows across global financial markets.

“This agreement is meaningful in that it leverages the specialized capabilities of each company to lay the groundwork for tokenized securities targeting domestic institutional investors,” Kang said. “We will continue to closely monitor regulatory and market developments, expand our partnerships with global players, and strengthen our capabilities to deliver innovative financial products and services.”

Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize, said his company, together with KB Securities and Optimism, is “bringing proven global tokenization infrastructure to Korea and creating a bridge between its traditional capital markets and the growing onchain economy.”

Meanwhile, Jing Wang, CEO and co-founder of OP Labs, said KB Securities’ choice of OP Mainnet for its first tokenized product signals that this model works beyond the U.S. dollar-denominated market. Wang added that more financial institutions are expected to follow as traditional capital moves onchain.

South Korea’s Evolving Crypto Rules

The announcement comes as South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) continues to establish rules governing security token offerings (STOs) and blockchain-based issuance mechanisms. Institutional interest in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization has accelerated globally, driven by clearing efficiency, automated compliance via smart contracts, and around-the-clock liquidity.

By anchoring initial issuances to OP Mainnet using Securitize’s compliance architecture, KB Securities aims to establish a scalable operational baseline aligned with South Korea’s evolving regulatory landscape.