South Korea Unveils Blockchain Roadmap to Tokenize Stocks, Bonds by 2027

South Korea is accelerating its push into blockchain-powered finance. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has introduced a policy roadmap to modernize securities issuance and trading through tokenization, marking a significant step toward digital capital markets.

The roadmap aims to take stocks, bonds, and funds on-chain by 2027, with the first phase targeting money market funds, bonds, exchangeable unlisted stocks (EUSTs) through trust structures, and publicly listed fractional stock sales. This phase will evaluate market structures and operational processes before moving on to a wider adoption of tokenization for various financial products.

The FSC has also issued model standards for fractional investment products to support the development of markets, with individual subscriptions capped at KRW 30 million or 5% of volume of all issuances. Regulators suggest that a small portion of public issues be reserved for retail investors so that there is fair participation.