Kakao Pay Securities Partners with Dinari and Ondo Finance to Tokenize Korean Equities
TREE NEWS reports: Kakao Pay Securities, the brokerage arm of South Korea’s Kakao Pay, has signed separate agreements with Dinari and Ondo Finance to explore tokenizing Korean-listed stocks and distributing them to international investors. The initiative marks one of the most concrete attempts yet to bring Korean equities on-chain.
Under the Dinari collaboration, the two parties will run a proof-of-concept using Dinari’s dShares model, with a focus on preserving shareholder rights such as dividends and voting. Dinari CEO Gabe Otte emphasized that the project will use actual Korean shares as the underlying asset rather than price-tracking tokens. No specific listed companies have been selected, and no commercialization timeline has been disclosed.
The Ondo Finance partnership will initially center on building a procurement and custody framework for Korean shares. Kakao Pay plans to establish a comprehensive account for foreign investors to manage assets, while both sides study token issuance and redemption mechanisms. Any commercialization will depend on legal compliance in Korea and overseas.
Why This Matters for RWA Tokenization
Korean equities have long been difficult for foreign investors to access directly, owing to language barriers, account-opening requirements, and local market rules. Tokenization offers a path to fractional ownership and 24/7 settlement while potentially broadening the investor base for Korean issuers.
- Real shares, not synthetic exposure: Dinari’s insistence on actual share backing addresses a key regulatory concern — token holders should receive the same economic and governance rights as direct shareholders.
- Custody and compliance first: Ondo’s focus on procurement and custody frameworks reflects the reality that tokenized equities live or die by their legal wrappers.
- Institutional-grade infrastructure: Kakao Pay’s brokerage license and existing user base give the project a distribution channel that pure crypto startups lack.
Challenges Ahead
Tokenized equities remain a regulatory gray zone in many jurisdictions. Korea’s capital markets law, foreign ownership rules, and securities registration requirements could all complicate cross-border distribution. The absence of a named issuer list or timeline suggests the parties are still in the feasibility stage.
Competition is also intensifying. Backed, Securitize, and other RWA platforms are racing to tokenize equities, bonds, and funds. Korea’s large retail trading culture and Kakao Pay’s 40-million-plus user base could give this partnership an edge — if it clears regulatory hurdles.
Forward-Looking Perspective
If successful, the Kakao Pay-Dinari-Ondo effort could become a template for other Asian markets seeking to export their equities to global crypto-native investors. The key milestones to watch are the selection of underlying Korean stocks, the legal structure for shareholder rights, and whether Korean regulators provide clarity on tokenized securities. For now, the project is a promising signal that TradFi and DeFi are converging around real-world assets — but execution and compliance will determine whether it moves beyond proof-of-concept.
