Hanwha Investment & Securities has reportedly completed its tokenized securities platform. The system supports Avalanche and other blockchain networks. Its development precedes South Korea’s introduction of a regulated market for these instruments in February 2027.
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Seoul Economic Daily reported on Sunday that the South Korean brokerage started the project in 2025 with technology company FairSquare Lab. Their system also supports Hyperledger Besu, an enterprise Ethereum client.
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How Is South Korea Preparing for Tokenized Securities?
The launch framework takes effect on Feb. 4, 2027. Amendments to the Electronic Securities Act and Capital Markets Act will recognize distributed ledgers as securities registers. These changes bring tokenized securities into South Korea’s existing capital markets system.
The Financial Services Commission (FSA) unveiled its implementation roadmap on Sept. 4. It outlined three stages for introducing eligible products and expanding the market. The plan also covers future payment infrastructure linked to stablecoins.
The Korea Securities Depository is preparing infrastructure to connect with different blockchains. Its published requirements cover Avalanche, Hyperledger Besu, and Hyperledger Fabric. Securities companies will therefore have several network options when building systems for the incoming framework.
Access to connected distributed ledgers will be limited to approved institutions. These participants will include securities companies and the depository. The KSD would join the networks directly to oversee total issuance and electronic registration information.
Financial companies helped shape the decision to include Avalanche, according to Seoul Economic Daily. A KSD official said several firms had requested support for the network. Those requests came through industry consultations and existing projects.
Which Networks Support Hanwha Tokenized Securities Platform?
FairSquare Lab built Hanwha’s system to work across multiple distributed ledgers. Other South Korean financial firms have already used enterprise networks such as Hyperledger Besu for securities infrastructure. Besu is compatible with Ethereum and designed for enterprise deployments.
Hanwha’s platform extends that approach by supporting Avalanche as well. Institutions using Avalanche can establish dedicated networks with controls over participants and validators. The reported development comes as South Korea finalizes its operating structure for tokenized securities.
As reported earlier, the initial phase of the roadmap covers privately pooled money market funds. In addition, bonds that are exclusive to institutional investors as well as unlisted stocks in the form of trusts fall within this scope. Fractional securities offered publicly will be considered during the first phase as well.
In the second phase, tokenization will be extended to include all publicly issued securities. There has not been a definite deadline for this extension because it will depend on the outcome of the implementation of the first phase.
The third phase will involve on-chain payments that will utilize stablecoins. Onchain payment of tokenized securities will be done using blockchain technology. The timing of this part of the settlement system will depend on South Korean legislation on stablecoins.
What Will South Korea Test Before Expanding Tokenization?
The National Assembly approved the legal amendments in January. These provide a foundation for distributed ledgers as securities registration mechanisms.
Instruments recorded using such platforms will still be considered securities according to the existing financial law, and they will not constitute a new category of assets.
However, the FSC had outlined its plans to create these rules in May. At that moment, the agency was looking into how stocks, bonds, and money market funds could be introduced to the ecosystem. According to the commission, the whole electronic securities market would not go onto blockchain immediately.
Instead, they were going to test this out in different parts of the market. This would include securities rights, trading, clearing and settlement, and on-chain payment operations.
The staged approach preceded the September roadmap, which specified initial product eligibility and conditions for later expansion.
Furthermore, Avalanche is also used in Japan to support the creation of tokenized securities infrastructure. In July, Progmat switched its platform from Corda 5 to Avalanche Layer 1.
All active security token projects in the system were moved to the new layer. Their underlying asset value and securities totaled more than 452 billion yen.
How Did Hanwha Become Securitize’s Largest Shareholder?
Hanwha has also established itself within the companies that develop and build up their capabilities in tokenization and blockchain infrastructure.
The US regulatory filing revealed an aggregate stake of 9.6% in Securitize through the three affiliates of Hanwha. This stake made the conglomerate the largest shareholder of the company.
According to the figures reported in July, these three affiliates have held 15.69 million shares of Securitize. This amount of shares is larger than the stake held by Blockchain Capital and co-founder of Securitize Carlos Domingo, who is also a CEO of the company.
The investment in Securitize was made by a private equity firm managed by Hanwha Asset Management, which holds 5.9%. H Foundation, which is a subsidiary of Hanwha Systems, owns 3.1%. Hanwha Investment & Securities holds 0.6% of the shares of the company.
The company referred to the purchase as a financial investment during pre-IPO financing. However, it leaves room for possible use of the investment in its digital asset operations as well as real asset tokenization business.
Which Financial Institutions Use Securitize’s Infrastructure?
Seuritize offers tokenized securities infrastructure and infrastructure for tokenized assets. Its institutional clients include BlackRock, Apollo, BNY, Hamilton Lane, KKR, and VanEck. This year, its platform was handling over $4 billion worth of onchain assets and had more than 650 tokenized funds.
Securitize had its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in July, listing under the ticker SECZ. At the time, it was offering blockchain versions of its common shares. These tokenized versions were available on both Solana and Avalanche platforms.
They represent the same shares listed on the NYSE. The tokens do not make up a new class of securities. Apart from investing in the Seuritize business, Hanwha Investment & Securities has also invested in blockchain research and data firm Xangle this year.
The brokerage invested in Web3 infrastructure company Kresus. All these investments came alongside the firm’s wider investments in tokenized securities and blockchain firms. In July, Hanwha Investment & Securities made an investment in Digital Asset.
The investment amount was 30 billion won, which is roughly $22.3 million. Digital Asset is the operator of Canton Network, an institution-focused network.
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