Crypto29 September, 20262 min read
KakaoPay Securities Signs MOUs With Dinari And Ondo Finance To Tokenize Korean Stocks
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KakaoPay Securities signed MOUs with Dinari and Ondo Finance to explore tokenized Korean stocks. MOUs aim to distribute tokenized Korean stocks to international investors.
KakaoPay eyes onchain Korean stocks
KakaoPay Securities said it signed separate memorandums of understanding with Dinari and Ondo Finance to explore tokenizing Korean-listed stocks and distributing them to investors in international markets. KakaoPay Securities said the Dinari work would run a proof of concept using Dinari’s dShares model, which is designed to preserve applicable shareholder rights, including dividends and voting.
“Kakao Pay Securities is partnering with two global tokenized finance firms to build a framework for distributing Korean-listed stocks overseas.”
Dinari CEO Gabe Otte told Cointelegraph that no specific Korean-listed companies have been selected for the proof of concept and that it has not set a public timeline for commercial availability. KakaoPay Securities said its agreement with Ondo Finance would initially focus on establishing a framework for sourcing and custodying Korean-listed shares that could later be tokenized, with Ondo and KakaoPay also researching token issuance and redemption.
Custody, tokens, and rights
KakaoPay Securities said it would use omnibus accounts, pooled accounts for foreign investors, to source and hold underlying shares of Korean-listed stocks before creating tokens backed by those shares for distribution abroad. The study would cover balance reconciliation between shares and tokens, issuance and redemption procedures, and how shareholder rights such as dividends and voting would be reflected.
KakaoPay Securities would test whether Dinari’s dShares model, in which each token is backed one-to-one by an underlying share, can be applied to Korean equities. The Ondo partnership would initially focus on sourcing and holding Korean shares for overseas investors, with KakaoPay Securities operating a foreign investor omnibus account that pools multiple investors’ holdings in a single account.
2027 rules and next steps
KakaoPay Securities said any decision on whether or when to commercialize tokenized Korean equities would depend on legal and regulatory requirements in South Korea and overseas markets. South Korea’s National Assembly approved amendments in January that recognize distributed ledgers as valid securities registries and permit the issuance and circulation of token securities.
“Commercial launches remain subject to technical assessments, regulatory requirements and investor protection rules in Korea and overseas.”
The framework is scheduled to take effect in February 2027, while the Korea Securities Depository is developing infrastructure to connect its existing securities account system with blockchain-based data. Commercial launches remain subject to technical assessments, regulatory requirements and investor protection rules in Korea and overseas, and both partnerships call for joint task forces later this year to develop operating plans for overseas retail investors.