Shinhan Asset Management eyes Korean won token fund offshore

Shinhan Asset Management has signed a memorandum of understanding with Plume to develop a proof of concept for a Korean won-denominated tokenised fund focused on offshore markets.

The pilot will use a fund linked to won ultra-short-term bonds as the underlying asset. Plume will test tokenisation functions and potential technical issues that could arise outside Korea. The work will also examine the full process for whitelist-based transfer controls, on-chain mechanisms, and know-your-customer and anti-money laundering systems.

The arrangement reflects a broader push by financial institutions to test how traditional assets can be represented in digital form and distributed through blockchain-based systems. Much of the market has so far centred on dollar-denominated products, while won-denominated tokenised securities remain largely untested.

Shinhan Asset Management, the asset management arm of Shinhan Financial Group, oversees about KRW133.6 trillion, or roughly USD100 billion, across public and private markets. The pilot is intended to test overseas demand for won-based financial investment products and assess whether regulatory requirements can be aligned across jurisdictions.

Offshore structure

The proof of concept will be carried out in a third jurisdiction and will not involve issuance or distribution in Korea's domestic market. The current work is limited to technical verification and infrastructure preparation ahead of any broader token securities framework.

Chief Executive Officer Lee Seok-won set out the rationale for the test in comments accompanying the agreement.

"While dollar-based assets have traditionally served as onchain payment and liquidity infrastructure, it is now time to bring overseas funds into the domestic market through Korean Won-based stablecoins or tokenized securities. To achieve this, it is necessary to conduct preliminary experiments regarding whitelisting methods, the functionality of KYC and AML, and the feasibility of regulatory compliance. This will serve as a crucial intellectual asset to establish Shinhan Asset Management as a leader in global tokenized financial investment products," Lee said.

He also stressed the project's limited scope. "This POC is limited to a proof of concept and is not fundamentally based on issuance or distribution. In particular, for this POC, we are designing a completely isolated structure that fundamentally blocks acquisition by domestic residents both contractually and technically. We will continue to communicate closely with regulatory authorities and proceed responsibly," he said.

Market context

Tokenised real-world assets have attracted attention from banks, fund managers, and market infrastructure groups exploring ways to move securities and fund interests onto blockchain rails. Advocates argue that digital records and automated transfer restrictions could make cross-border distribution easier, but such projects have also raised questions over licensing, custody, investor eligibility, and settlement rules.

Plume said it is positioned to support the project through infrastructure and regulatory arrangements. Through Kimber Transfer Agency, it holds a US Securities and Exchange Commission-registered transfer agent licence and has also joined an industry working group run by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation on tokenisation standards.

That background matters because any cross-border test involving tokenised fund interests requires close control over who can hold and transfer the assets. The pilot will explore how those controls can be built into the structure from the outset rather than added later.

For Shinhan Asset Management, the project offers a way to examine whether Korean currency assets could find a place in on-chain markets dominated by dollar products. It also gives one of Korea's largest asset managers a chance to test how tokenised structures might fit with existing fund products linked to short-duration fixed-income instruments.

Chris Yin, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Plume, described the agreement as an early step toward broadening the geographic and currency mix of tokenised assets. "While RWA tokenisation has grown around dollar-denominated assets, there is now a significant demand for global market integration," he said. "Cooperation with Shinhan Asset Management, a leading asset management firm in Korea, marks the first step in connecting compliant, high-quality KRW-denominated assets to investors worldwide."