Shinhan Securities Signs Deal with OTC Security Token Consortium

Why It Matters

By integrating traditional brokerage services with blockchain infrastructure, Shinhan accelerates institutional adoption of tokenized assets, potentially reshaping Korea’s capital markets.

Key Takeaways

• Korea enacted tokenization legislation last month.
• Two OTC venues received preliminary approval: KRX, Nextrade.
• Shinhan partners with Nextrade for fractional RWA token investments.
• Shinhan will manage accounts and ledger for token conversion.
• Nextrade limited to 15% of KRX volume by law.

Pulse Analysis

The South Korean government’s recent tokenization law marks a decisive shift toward digitizing securities, granting legal clarity for security tokens and their underlying assets. This regulatory framework removes previous ambiguities that hampered blockchain‑based financing, opening the door for both domestic and foreign participants to issue, trade, and settle tokenized securities on a compliant basis. Analysts anticipate a surge in tokenized real‑world assets, ranging from real estate to infrastructure projects, as issuers seek the efficiency and fractional ownership benefits that distributed ledger technology offers.

Within this newly sanctioned environment, two over‑the‑counter (OTC) venues have earned preliminary approval: one spearheaded by the Korea Exchange (KRX) and the other by Nextrade, an alternative trading platform that challenged KRX’s monopoly since its 2025 launch. Nextrade’s model emphasizes fractional investment platforms, allowing investors to acquire small slices of high‑value assets through tokenized shares. To comply with Korean antitrust rules, Nextrade caps its trading volume at 15 % of KRX activity, a limitation that nonetheless positions it as a catalyst for market diversification and competition.

Shinhan Securities’ agreement with the Nextrade consortium signals the bank’s commitment to bridging conventional finance with blockchain innovation. By handling investor accounts and supplying a distributed ledger for converting fractional holdings into security tokens, Shinhan provides the custodial and compliance infrastructure essential for mainstream adoption. This partnership not only expands Shinhan’s product suite but also offers retail and institutional clients a regulated pathway into tokenized assets, potentially accelerating capital formation and liquidity in Korea’s nascent security‑token market.