Shinhan Leaps into Tokenization Market with Won-Denominated Fund on Solana

South Korea's financial sector is rapidly embracing blockchain infrastructure, and Shinhan is at the forefront of this movement. The bank has launched an offshore pilot for a Korean won tokenized fund on Solana, mirroring BlackRock's institutional model.

The initiative mirrors BlackRock's BUIDL architecture, signaling that Shinhan intends to compete directly within the fast-growing real-world asset landscape. To build the product, Shinhan signed a four-party agreement with the Solana Foundation, Etherfuse and Orca.

Shinhan aims to become a leading issuer of won-denominated digital products, with CEO Lee Seok-won stating that all operations remain offshore and limited to technical validation until South Korea's STO regulations take effect in February 2027.

The market is projected to reach $30 trillion by 2030, according to BCG's projection, which would mark a significant expansion from the current $36 billion. Solana currently ranks third globally with $3.86 billion in distributed RWA assets and leads in total project count with 2,678 launches.