Shinhan Asset Management Pioneers Era of Won-Denominated "Digital Financial Products" with Four-Party MOU

Shinhan Asset Management has joined forces with global blockchain companies to take the lead in the digital finance market.

On August 21, Shinhan Asset Management announced that it had signed a four-party memorandum of understanding (MOU) for technology verification (Proof of Concept; PoC) covering the entire process of issuing and distributing a KRW-denominated tokenized fund with global blockchain network Solana Foundation, regulatory-compliant tokenization issuance platform Etherfuse, and on-chain liquidity infrastructure provider Orca.

This agreement marks the first step in applying the digital product model, pioneered by BlackRock with its tokenized fund 'BUIDL', to Korean won assets. The four parties will jointly conduct technical verification of the full process from issuance to distribution, based on a structure in which Korean won ultra-short-term bond funds managed by Shinhan Asset Management are purchased by overseas institutional investors and issued in token form. Specifically, they plan to comprehensively assess customer identification (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) systems compliant with domestic and international regulations, blockchain operating models, compliance with foreign exchange transaction regulations, and on-chain liquidity design.

With major organizations such as Boston Consulting Group (BCG) projecting the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market to grow to as much as USD 30 trillion by 2030, Shinhan Asset Management aims to proactively internalize issuance and management capabilities in line with the upcoming legalization of tokenized securities (STO) in Korea.

Seokwon Lee, CEO of Shinhan Asset Management, stated, "We will demonstrate the issuance and distribution structure for KRW-denominated digital products together with leading global partners," adding, "Our goal is to take the lead in the KRW-based digital financial product management market by proactively securing proven capabilities that can be activated immediately upon implementation of the relevant system."

This MOU is a non-binding agreement confirming mutual cooperation intentions, limited to technical verification and based on an offshore market structure. Shinhan Asset Management plans to identify products issuable and distributable under the current legal framework in accordance with future related laws and regulatory guidance, and will focus activities on technology verification and infrastructure preparation until the domestic tokenized securities regime is implemented.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.