Shinhan Tests Tokenized Fund Concept on Solana and Plume
South Korea's Shinhan Asset Management is testing its tokenized fund concept on two rival blockchains, Solana and Plume. The asset manager signed a proof-of-concept agreement with Solana Foundation, Etherfuse, and Orca to trial a won-denominated tokenized bond fund on August 21. Just seven days earlier, it had signed nearly the same agreement with Plume for the same underlying fund.
Both deals are non-binding memoranda covering technical validation only, not product launches. They show Shinhan hedging its infrastructure bet rather than picking a winner.
The two agreements describe the same mechanism: overseas institutional investors buying into a Shinhan won-denominated ultra-short-term bond fund, which would then be issued as tokens for on-chain trading. Both use BlackRock's BUIDL as their model and cover the same technical checklist, including KYC and anti-money-laundering systems.
Shinhan Asset Management CEO Lee Seok-won said the company's goal is to 'lead the market for managing KRW-based digital financial products.'