[Block Festa 2026] "To Enhance Korea's STO Competitiveness... Attracting Foreign Capital and Investment Products is Key"

Discussions on Asia's On-chain Finance and STO Competitiveness at Block Festa 2026

"Korea's STO lacks competitiveness with only domestic funds and products... must connect with overseas"

"The key to token securities is liquidity"... pushing for the launch of STO products with domestic financial companies next year

[Reporter Oh Su-hwan, Block Media] A suggestion has been made that in order for the domestic token securities (STO) market to secure competitiveness, it must actively attract foreign capital and global investment products, rather than remaining confined to domestic assets and investors. As Singapore and Hong Kong have already begun investing in tokenized funds using stablecoins and operating on-chain, it has been pointed out that Korea needs to establish infrastructure that allows for the inflow of global funds.

Lee Yun-ho, CEO of Kaia Investment Partners (KIP) and Chief Business Development Officer (CBDO) of Kaia, stated this during a discussion with Professor Lim Byeong-hwa of Sungkyunkwan University on the topic "From Stablecoins to Real Returns: Asset and Liquidity Infrastructure for Asia's On-chain Finance" at the 'Block Festa 2026' held at the IFC The Forum in Yeouido, Seoul on the 1st.

Lee explained that various Asian countries have introduced stablecoins to the market first and are complementing regulations during the actual operational process. He noted, "While regulations and guidelines for issuers vary significantly from country to country, many countries are moving proactively on a global scale," adding, "The difference with Korea is that they are refining the system while implementing it."

In the Philippines, local exchanges issue peso stablecoins, and electronic wallet providers offer conversion services between peso and dollar stablecoins. In this process, the inflow of dollar stablecoins is relatively broadly permitted, while outflows are managed with limits.

Lee Yun-ho, CEO of Kaia Investment Partners (KIP) and CBDO of Kaia. Photo = Block Media

Lee stated, "Countries are managing the inflow and outflow of stablecoins according to their policy situations," and added, "It is ironic that while Korea approaches institutionalization quite cautiously, dollar stablecoins are already circulating relatively freely."

Professor Lim also noted these overseas examples. He pointed out, "Abroad, the inflow of dollar stablecoins is kept open while outflows are restricted, managing the movement of funds," emphasizing the need to prepare measures to manage the inflow and outflow of funds during the institutionalization process of stablecoins in Korea.

In the Asian market, the use of stablecoins is rapidly expanding. With the infrastructure for exchanging fiat currency and stablecoins in place, the scope of use is expanding beyond payments and remittances to investments and asset management.

Lee remarked, "Payments, remittances, and settlements have already reached a certain stage," and added, "Now, interest, investment, and financial services necessary for holding stablecoins regularly are becoming commonplace."

In Singapore and Hong Kong, these changes are leading to tokenized financial products. In Singapore, global asset managers are offering tokenized funds in accordance with local regulations, allowing investors to access them through banks' digital asset platforms. In Hong Kong, cases of investing in tokenized financial products such as on-chain money market funds (MMFs) using stablecoins have also emerged.

KIP is also utilizing tokenized financial products for asset management. They manage tokenized funds in Singapore like cash-equivalent assets and tokenize the rights to their own real-world asset (RWA) funds to include them in the portfolio of on-chain products.

Lee stated, "We are already proceeding with tokenizing the rights to the RWA fund that KIP is conducting and providing returns to stablecoin depositors by incorporating them into the portfolio."

Professor Lim Byeong-hwa of Sungkyunkwan University's Fintech Convergence Major. Photo = Block Media

Professor Lim pointed out the differences with the domestic market. He noted, "In Korea, discussions have not yet moved beyond the stage of issuing stablecoins, while around us, cases are emerging that lead to on-chain finance and DeFi."

Considering this trend, Lee diagnosed that the domestic STO, which is set to be implemented next year, should not simply stop at tokenizing assets. He emphasized that in order to secure market competitiveness, it should not remain a market that sells domestic assets to domestic investors but should attract foreign capital and allow global investment products to be traded domestically.

Lee stressed, "For Korean STO to upgrade, it cannot be competitive with only the funds and products available in Korea."

KIP is also working to secure products for the domestic STO market. They plan to discover alternative assets from various Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, India, and Korea, and select projects that can be commercialized domestically to launch as STOs with securities firms and other financial companies.

Lee expressed, "I want to help commercialize projects that can be done in Korea immediately and launch products suitable for a 6-month or 1-year market," adding, "I want to play the role of a partner that proactively sources STO products in Korea."

He emphasized that a secondary market must also be established alongside product supply. Even if token securities are issued, if investors cannot sell them when needed, it will be difficult to attract new investment demand. He explained that in Singapore, some STO platforms support secondary trading by utilizing public blockchains and market makers (MMs) providing liquidity.

Lee stated, "The key to token securities is liquidity," emphasizing, "How efficiently capital can be utilized is important." He continued, "While it is important to issue good products tailored to Korea, the infrastructure to buy and sell these products must also be in place for investors to participate comfortably."

Based on these preparations, KIP is pushing for the launch of domestic STO products next year. Lee stated, "Our goal is to launch products in the Korean market with at least one promising team among those we have discovered in collaboration with a domestic securities firm or financial company next year."

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