Kakaopay, Dinari and Ondo explore tokenized Korean stocks abroad

What happened

Kakaopay Securities has signed separate agreements with Dinari and Ondo Finance, two tokenization firms. The partners will study how Korean-listed shares could be sourced, tokenized and distributed to investors outside South Korea.

The Dinari work begins with a proof of concept built on that firm's dShares model. Each token under the model is backed one-to-one by an underlying security held in regulated custody, and the design aims to keep rights such as dividends and voting with the shares.

The Ondo agreement is narrower at first. It covers a framework for sourcing and custodying Korean-listed shares that could be tokenized later, with Kakaopay running a foreign investor omnibus account to hold and administer the underlying shares. The two firms will also research token issuance and redemption, and plan a joint task force later in 2026.

Why it matters

Dinari CEO Gabe Otte said access to Korean public companies remains limited for many investors outside the country. Overseas exposure often depends on instruments such as depositary receipts, which exist for only a portion of Korean-listed companies.

Kakaopay Securities Executive Vice President Inyoung Chung said the company wants a concrete framework for distributing Korean equities internationally, starting with sourcing listed shares before a tokenization proof of concept. Both companies tied any commercialization decision to legal and regulatory requirements at home and abroad.

What the data shows

Data from RWA.xyz cited in the reports put the distributed value of tokenized stocks at about $3.2 billion by late September 2026.

Dinari's dShares line covers 724 tokenized US stocks and ETFs, and the Kakaopay tie-up is looking at extending that model to Korean-listed equities. The market remains concentrated in tokenized US equities and ETFs, among them Strategy, Circle, Nvidia and Tesla shares and large US stock ETFs.

Background

In January, South Korea's National Assembly passed amendments that count distributed ledgers as valid securities registries and allow token securities to be issued and circulated.

In June, the Financial Services Commission tied token securities infrastructure to a wider overhaul of the country's capital markets. The framework starts in February 2027, and the Korea Securities Depository is building infrastructure to connect its account system with blockchain-based data.

What is still unclear

• Neither company has tokenized a Korean stock under the partnership so far.
• Otte told Cointelegraph that the proof of concept has no named Korean-listed companies behind it yet, and that no public schedule for commercial availability has been given.
• The companies did not disclose a launch timetable, a list of eligible stocks or a target transaction volume.
• As described, the plan is a proposed distribution framework, not an approved US offering of tokenized Korean stocks.

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