Kakaopay Securities is working with Dinari and Ondo Finance on plans to bring Korean-listed equities onto blockchain networks and potentially make them available to investors outside South Korea. The initiative is exploratory and does not yet identify which companies would be included or when any product might reach the market, according to Cointelegraph.
Two partnerships, two parts of the proposed system
Kakaopay announced separate agreements with Dinari and Ondo Finance on Tuesday. The arrangements address different elements of a possible tokenized-equity platform, including the sourcing and custody of Korean shares, the technology used to represent them digitally, and possible distribution to international investors.
The agreement with Dinari will involve a proof of concept based on the company’s dShares model. Dinari says its model is designed to maintain applicable shareholder rights, such as dividends and voting, rather than merely creating digital assets that follow a stock’s price.
Dinari currently offers 724 tokenized US stocks and exchange-traded funds through dShares. The partnership with Kakaopay is intended to examine whether a similar structure could be applied to equities listed in South Korea.
Gabe Otte, Dinari’s chief executive, told Cointelegraph that the companies have not chosen specific Korean-listed stocks for the proof of concept. They also have not announced a public timetable for commercial availability. Otte said the proposed structure would use locally listed Korean shares as the underlying assets, rather than tokens that only track the performance of those shares.
The separate agreement with Ondo will initially concentrate on the framework for sourcing and holding Korean-listed shares. Under the proposed arrangement, Kakaopay would operate an omnibus account for foreign investors, with the account used to hold and administer the underlying securities.
Kakaopay and Ondo also plan to study how tokens representing the shares could be issued and later redeemed. Any decision to launch a commercial offering will depend on legal and regulatory requirements in South Korea and in the overseas markets where the assets might be distributed.
South Korea builds a framework for tokenized securities
The discussions come as South Korea prepares new rules for tokenized securities. In January, the National Assembly approved amendments recognizing distributed ledgers as valid securities registries and permitting the issuance and circulation of token securities.
The Financial Services Commission said in June that infrastructure for token securities formed part of a wider effort to overhaul the country’s capital markets. The framework is scheduled to take effect in February 2027.
The Korea Securities Depository is also developing infrastructure intended to connect its existing securities-account system with blockchain-based data. That work is relevant to any future arrangement involving real shares, investor records and digital representations of securities.
Otte told Cointelegraph that there is meaningful institutional interest in South Korea in using tokenization to connect the country’s capital markets with international investors. He said the opportunity was not limited to producing digital versions of Korean equities, but also involved developing infrastructure that could broaden how those equities are distributed while preserving the rights and protections attached to the underlying securities.
Tokenization generally refers to representing an asset or a claim on an asset digitally on a blockchain. For shares, the structure can raise practical questions about ownership, custody, dividends, voting, redemption and compliance. The Kakaopay partnerships are focused on examining those issues before any decision on a commercial launch.
A market still dominated by US assets
Tokenized stocks have expanded sharply in 2026. RWA.xyz put the distributed value of tokenized stocks at about $3.2 billion in late September. The market, however, remains concentrated in tokenized versions of US equities and exchange-traded funds.
Examples cited in the source material include shares in Strategy, Circle, Nvidia and Tesla, as well as major US stock ETFs. A potential Korean-equity project would therefore explore a broader geographic range for tokenized stocks, although the partnerships have not yet resulted in a publicly available product.
The initiative’s next steps include selecting assets for the Dinari proof of concept, working out the custody and account structure with Ondo, and assessing issuance and redemption processes. Regulatory decisions in South Korea and other jurisdictions will remain central to whether and when those plans move beyond research.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar market data at 09:23-09:24 on October 1, 2026, showed Ondo (ONDO) at $0.5019177891, down 0.2% over 24 hours and up 17.75% over seven days. The same data showed Lighter (LIT) at $4.0196642409, up 4.47% over 24 hours and down 22.75% over seven days; Plasma (XPL) at $0.0978220514, up 1.05% and 11.08%, respectively; and LAB at $0.0536356033, up 0.09% over 24 hours and down 1.21% over seven days. Prices are shown in US dollars.
