Korea's Crypto Market Accelerates Towards Stablecoin Adoption by 2030

Korea's crypto market has been growing rapidly, with over 11 million accounts eligible for trading as of the end of 2025, representing more than 20% of the population. However, despite its size, the industry built around real-world use cases remains underdeveloped. The Bank of Korea reports that about $450 million worth of real-world assets have been tokenized, but most of it is in non-standard assets such as music royalties and artwork.

Overseas, tokenization has moved from a crypto experiment to financial infrastructure, driven by regulatory progress and institutional participation. Major financial firms are entering the market directly, and existing financial infrastructure is moving on-chain. The New York Stock Exchange is building a platform for 24/7 tokenized securities trading, and DTCC has received SEC clearance to run its own tokenization service.

The Korean market is starting to move past its earlier limits in response to these global shifts. Shinhan Asset Management has worked with an overseas partner on a proof of concept (PoC) for issuing and distributing a KRW-denominated fund on-chain, and many financial institutions are expanding partnerships through their overseas offices.