South Korea Sets Rules for Tokenized Stocks and Bonds

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has unveiled a subordinate-rule proposal that defines the requirements for issuers and the operational standards for over-the-counter (OTC) trading platforms. Under this framework, tokenized assets will be treated as regulated securities built on distributed ledgers rather than as a separate class of crypto assets. Consequently, these instruments must remain compliant with existing capital-market laws.

Retail investors will encounter a 100 million won annual net purchase limit on each approved OTC platform to mitigate risk. Meanwhile, non-financial companies seeking to manage their own tokenized securities accounts must meet a 4 billion won equity capital threshold and maintain specialized personnel for cybersecurity and internal controls. The FSC plans a phased rollout, prioritizing private money-market funds and institutional-grade bonds before eventually expanding to publicly offered traditional securities. To ensure market integrity, all distributed ledgers must interface with the Korea Securities Depository, which will oversee technical compliance and system resilience. Financial institutions, including KB Securities and Hanwha Investment & Securities, are already prototyping platforms ahead of the February 2027 launch, as the public comment period for these new measures remains open through November 11.