South Korea has proposed detailed rules for introducing tokenized securities into its regulated capital markets, which will take effect on February 4, 2027. Under the new rules, stocks, bonds, and investment funds will be available within tokenized securities. Retail investors will be limited to an annual purchase limit of 100 million Korean won on each licensed over-the-counter exchange. This means that net purchases will be calculated by subtracting the total sales volume from the total purchase volume made through the platform during the year. The limit applies separately to each exchange.
Companies that will issue tokenized securities and directly manage client accounts must have a minimum capital of 4 billion Korean won (approximately 2.8 million dollars), as well as a dedicated staff for compliance and technology. The assumptions specify that the distributed ledger infrastructure must include at least two account managers along with the Korean Securities Depository System. The rules were presented by the Financial Services Commission of Korea (FSC), which stated that the proposed rules began public consultation on October 2 and will be open for comments until November 11. It should be noted that since tokenized securities are considered a form of regulated security, they are not regarded as a separate category of crypto assets.
The initial phase of implementation is planned to start with private money market funds and bonds intended for institutional investors, as well as equity shares placed through trust structures. Later, it is expected to expand tokenization to all publicly offered securities. According to the more detailed three-stage roadmap developed by the FSC, the third phase will involve integrating securities infrastructure with blockchain-based payment and settlement systems. Currently, work on this settlement model has already begun in the private sector. The public consultation on the current subordinate rules will last until November 11. As reported in the Korean FSC notice, the proposed measures must undergo commission approval, legislative review, a vice-ministerial level meeting, and cabinet consideration before the planned implementation on February 4, 2027.
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