Kakaopay Securities has partnered with Dinari and Ondo Finance to explore offering tokenized Korean stocks to overseas investors, potentially opening a new channel into the country's equity market. According to reports from PRNewswire, the brokerage signed memorandums of understanding with both companies, with the agreements covering sourcing Korean-listed shares, distributing them overseas, and developing systems to issue and manage blockchain-based tokens linked to the stocks. Commercial launches remain subject to technical assessments, regulatory requirements and investor protection rules in Korea and overseas. As Kakaopay Securities Executive Vice President Inyoung Chung stated, the company wants to develop a concrete framework for distributing Korean equities internationally, beginning with sources of listed Korean stocks and moving toward proof of concept for stock tokenization.
The companies plan to examine Dinari's dShares model, under which each token is backed one-to-one by a corresponding underlying security held through a custodial structure. As reported by PRNewswire, Dinari provides over 724 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs to accredited U.S. investors and investors in more than 85 jurisdictions worldwide through its dShares™ platform. The model is designed to preserve applicable rights tied to the shares, including dividends and voting rights, while supporting NBBO execution and redemptions. Dinari is a registered transfer agent with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and its U.S. regulatory structure includes Dinari Securities LLC, which was approved as an introducing broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 20, 2025, and became a FINRA member.
Separately, KakaoPay Securities has partnered with Siebert Financial to establish what they're calling the "K-Stock Global Gateway," an initiative specifically designed to give US investors access to Korean equities. According to recent reports, Siebert Financial, a US broker-dealer, would serve as the distribution channel for Korean equities reaching American portfolios. The target launch window is set for the first half of 2027, positioning the partnership as a commercially focused approach to overseas market access. This partnership complements the technical infrastructure development through the Dinari collaboration, creating a comprehensive cross-border equity access solution.
The first stage centers on obtaining Korean-listed shares and testing how they could be represented through Dinari's token infrastructure. According to PRNewswire, the planned work covers both the creation of tokens against underlying shares and their redemption when investors exit positions. The companies will establish their joint working groups later this year to further refine the operational framework and proof-of-concept design. The work will examine token issuance and redemption backed by underlying equities, reconciliation between tokenized securities and their underlying securities, the handling of applicable shareholder rights, and the infrastructure required for potential distribution through the partners' global distribution networks. As Dinari CEO Gabe Otte noted, the partnership presents an opportunity to explore infrastructure that can connect Korea's public markets with a broader global investor base.
South Korea is preparing its own legal structure for tokenized securities, with plans to begin rollout in February 2027 under amendments that recognize distributed ledgers as permitted securities registries. As reported by PRNewswire, the first phase is expected to cover selected privately pooled money market funds, institutional bonds, certain unlisted stocks and publicly offered fractional investment securities. Kakaopay Securities serves around 9 million stock accounts in Korea and has been exploring overseas access through multiple routes, with the Siebert Financial partnership representing a significant commercial push. The companies noted that tokenization could enable more flexible trading hours and settlement, easing time-zone barriers and connecting Korean stock market infrastructure with global distribution networks.
