Monad's Outlook on the Korean Virtual Asset Market in 2030 – Tiger Research

1. Current Status of the Korean Virtual Asset Market

According to the Bank of Korea, the scale of tokenized real assets in South Korea is only about 640 billion won (approximately 450 million USD). This is less than one-eighth of the average daily trading volume of domestic centralized exchanges (CEX). While there is high investment enthusiasm focused on trading, the industrial foundation, including tokenized assets, remains insufficient.

In terms of trading volume, the Korean virtual asset market is already among the top in the world. According to a survey conducted by financial authorities in March 2026, the number of domestic trading accounts as of the end of 2025 was 11.13 million, exceeding 20% of the total population. Despite being in a market downturn, the average daily trading volume in the second half of the year reached 5.4 trillion won (approximately 3.8 billion USD).

However, the growth of tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), a representative use case in the industrial aspect, is slow. The cumulative amount of tokens issued domestically is only about 640 billion won (approximately 450 million USD), and this is heavily concentrated in non-traditional assets such as music copyrights (65%) and artworks (17%). Cases of tokenizing traditional structured financial assets like bonds or funds are still hard to find. (Bank of Korea, as of March 2026)

In contrast, overseas, tokenization has established itself as a financial infrastructure beyond mere experimentation in the virtual asset industry, thanks to institutional participation and regulatory improvements.

According to indicators from rwa.xyz in August 2026, the total scale of global tokenized assets has surpassed approximately 37.3 billion USD, with the number of users exceeding 1.5 million. The range of assets flowing on-chain has also expanded from cash-like assets such as government bonds to stocks.

The institutional foundation supporting this is being rapidly established. The United States has enacted the GENIUS Act to regulate stablecoins and is pushing forward with the CLARITY Act. Although the CLARITY Act did not pass the Senate vote, the SEC immediately introduced an innovative exemption measure that exempts trading platforms for token securities from exchange registration obligations for five years. Europe has also established a unified regulatory framework through the comprehensive virtual asset regulation MiCA.

The on-chain transition of existing financial infrastructure has also begun in earnest. The New York Stock Exchange, under ICE, is building a 24-hour token securities trading platform, and the DTCC, which clears and settles most securities transactions in the U.S., has obtained SEC approval to operate its own tokenization service. Major exchanges and large banks, including Nasdaq and Morgan Stanley, are also joining this trend.

Major institutional financial companies are now directly entering the virtual asset market, which previously grew through a bottom-up approach, leading the formation of the market.

In line with these global changes, the domestic market is beginning to overcome its existing limitations.

In the field of tokenization, Shinhan Asset Management is promoting the on-chain issuance and distribution technology verification (PoC) of won-denominated funds in collaboration with overseas partners, and multiple financial institutions are expanding cooperation using overseas bases. At the policy level, the Financial Services Commission has begun to specify the policy direction for token securities and establish a regulatory framework.

In the stablecoin sector, major financial companies are forming consortia to accelerate joint research and preparation for the introduction of won-based stablecoins. Discussions on legislation are ongoing, but the relevant subcommittee of the National Assembly is expected to address the bill in November 2026, though the specific timing of passage remains uncertain. Nevertheless, both the market and the regulatory sector recognize the necessity of stablecoins, making the institutionalization and market introduction a matter of 'timing' rather than mere 'possibility.'

In the payment infrastructure sector, the Bank of Korea has completed Phase 1 of Project Han River. This was an empirical demonstration where participating banks issued institutional CBDCs and converted customer deposits into deposit tokens for distribution. Furthermore, the number of participating banks has been expanded to nine, and Phase 2 of empirical testing based on actual transactions has commenced.

The Korean virtual asset market has started later than overseas but is gradually evolving. It is not easy for a newly started market to immediately reduce the gap with advanced markets solely based on speed. However, issues such as the selection of issuing entities, distribution of shares among participants, and the design of asset tokenization structures are not matters that can be hastily resolved in the short term.

Therefore, the current approach of gradually accumulating empirical cases, regardless of the speed of regulatory improvements, is valid, and new opportunities should be actively sought in this process.

2. The Korean Virtual Asset Market in 2030

Imagine the daily life in 2030. Consumers pay for coffee at convenience stores using won-based stablecoins. Instead of bank transfers, salaries are deposited via token transfers in banking apps. Employees of New York asset management firms easily purchase won-denominated government bonds with a single wallet.

These everyday changes hint at a fundamental transformation occurring throughout the financial system. Considering the pace of infrastructure development in major countries and the ongoing PoC and regulatory discussions in South Korea, stablecoins are expected to become a core element of the Korean financial system within a few years.

2.1. Stablecoins: Coexistence with Existing Payment Methods

By 2030, consumers will likely pay for coffee at their local convenience store using won-based stablecoins without even realizing they are doing so.

Moreover, in B2B payments, won-based stablecoins are expected to hold a significant share, as OECD data indicates that Korea's trade-to-GDP ratio is about 85%, approximately 3.5 times that of the United States (25%), suggesting greater potential in the B2B sector.

In fact, even before the official institutionalization of won-based stablecoins, the potential for the commercialization of blockchain technology has been verified in various ways. In the PoC conducted by the Credit Finance Association, major card companies, and Lambda256, it was confirmed that won-based stablecoins could operate as a payment method while maintaining the existing approval and settlement systems.

The Bank of Korea's CBDC-based Project Han River also demonstrated interoperability between the distributed ledger-based payment network and the existing financial system. Given that sufficient technical verification has been achieved, the commercialization of won-based stablecoins is likely to proceed rapidly as soon as the institutional framework is established.

The spread of won-based stablecoins in South Korea can be largely divided into retail (B2C) and inter-company transactions (B2B).

1. Retail (B2C): Similar to the development process of existing payment and settlement infrastructure, consumers will maintain the same payment experience without being aware of changes in the infrastructure. However, due to the parallel usage structure with fiat currency and existing payment methods, there are certain limitations to the scalability and profitability of short-term B2C models.
2. Inter-company Transactions (B2B): Currently, cross-border B2B payments incur high costs and time delays due to complex intermediaries. Therefore, the practical utility of stablecoins in large-scale trade transactions, providing cost savings and improved settlement speed, will be more pronounced in the B2B sector.

In conclusion, by 2030, the Korean won stablecoin is expected to complement rather than completely replace existing card and settlement infrastructures, establishing itself as a core pillar of the national payment system.

2.2. Payment: Managing Settlement Funds Rather Than Just Payment Buttons

By 2030, salaries will be deposited via token transfers instead of bank transfers in banking apps. If stablecoins represent a new form of currency, the more challenging task is managing them. The user interface will remain the same as before, but the backend processes will be handled by a stablecoin-based system responsible for real-time fund settlement and management.

Technical validation of the payment infrastructure has already made progress. Visa's USDC settlement pilot has entered the actual settlement phase with partner financial institutions. Similar validations are underway domestically, focusing on cross-border transactions and payment collections for export companies.

Opportunities in the payment sector can be divided into frontend and backend.

1. Frontend (Payment UX): While the existing payment process experienced by consumers will be maintained, the settlement backend will integrate deposit tokens and stablecoins for processing.
2. Backend (Settlement Fund Management): Dedicated B2B solutions for the fund management departments of PG companies, card companies, and overseas remittance operators will become key business opportunities. This will involve managing prepaid balances, ensuring compliance with payment deadlines, and real-time risk control functionalities.

In summary, the payment market in 2030 is expected to evolve around sophisticated B2B infrastructure software that manages the liquidity and settlement risks of existing payment companies in real-time, rather than building new payment networks.

2.3. RWA: From Issuance to Global Distribution

By 2030, employees of New York asset management firms will be able to purchase Korean won-denominated government bonds with just one wallet. This indicates that the core opportunity in the RWA market lies not only in domestic token issuance but also in expanding global customer touchpoints and providing intermediary and connectivity services post-issuance.

The commercialization of tokenized assets is gradually being validated by global financial institutions. Cases where subscription and redemption are directly handled in an on-chain environment, such as UBS's tokenized fund uMINT and J.P. Morgan's JLTXX, are on the rise. In Korea, discussions on the on-chainization of traditional financial assets are becoming more concrete as financial authorities refine the regulatory framework for token securities (ST).

Opportunities in the RWA market can be categorized into 'domestic asset issuance' and 'global expansion and brokerage.'

1. Domestic Issuance: Issuance plays a core role as the first step in market entry. Financial institutions, led by securities firms, will continue to build infrastructure for stable tokenization of underlying assets.
2. Global Expansion and Brokerage: This is the area with the greatest growth potential. First, brokerage services that connect domestic tokenized assets to overseas investors or bring offshore RWA products into Korea. Currently, there is a lack of global distribution channels for domestically issued assets. Second, B2B integration infrastructure that supports real-time subscriptions, redemptions, and balance updates between operators and custodians post-issuance. Without such infrastructure, manual and batch processing methods will persist, diminishing the efficiency advantages of tokenization.

Ultimately, as the domestic RWA market matures, the focus will shift from simple issuance to the distribution and management of tokenized assets. Brokerage services connecting global buyers and operational infrastructure that links B2B stages in real-time post-issuance are expected to emerge as high-value areas.

3. Opportunities in Korea by 2030

By 2030, various business opportunities linked to on-chain transitions are expected to be created in line with the growth of the Korean virtual asset market. However, the opportunities currently being discussed are closer to pilot stages centered around testing environments rather than large-scale commercial operations.

Therefore, strategic positioning is crucial at this time. Institutions that proactively enter the current stage, where market norms and rules are being established, can secure market leadership after regulatory confirmations.

3.1. Korean Won Stablecoin: Modular Issuance Based on Shared Infrastructure

As of September 2026, the core issue of the Digital Asset Basic Act is the qualification of issuers of Korean won stablecoins. Until legal standards related to issuance are established, it is difficult to finalize the specific structure of subsequent services such as distribution, custody, and payment.

For the stablecoin to settle stably, it is essential to design a sustainable revenue structure for the issuer. The stablecoin business primarily relies on the profits from managing reserve assets, necessitating economies of scale. If reserves are managed solely as bank deposits, profitability will decline, and growth will face limitations.

To overcome these limitations, a modular white-label model that shares technological infrastructure and separates roles is gaining attention. The issuer retains and manages the reserve assets and maintains regulatory licenses. The infrastructure provider offers a shared on-chain rail for issuance, burning, freezing, and whitelisting while maintaining strict neutrality from a technical perspective, leaving control over services and assets with the issuer.

This division of roles can only be realized when the underlying blockchain provides the required processing speed and low fees demanded by user accounts. Frequent small transactions, immediate balance updates, and continuous profit distribution are key conditions. Monad is designed based on fast finality and low fees, making the settlement costs for small payments and large transfers nearly the same.

The mUSD model is a representative empirical case of this division of roles. Bridge, a subsidiary of Stripe, oversees reserve asset management and compliance as the issuer, while stablecoin infrastructure company M0 provides the technological rail. MetaMask has built a Money Account on this infrastructure. Users utilize cards based on their mUSD balances, which automatically accumulate interest, while MetaMask does not directly bear the burden of reserve asset management or licensing obligations.

As of August 2026, gasless transactions processed in the integrated environment of Monad and MetaMask surpassed 1 million. This suggests that the infrastructure can reliably handle substantial consumer transactions beyond demonstration levels.

The applicability of the modular model combining non-bank issuers and dedicated infrastructure providers in Korea needs to be monitored as discussions progress. The currently reviewed Digital Asset Basic Act includes a requirement for banks to hold more than half (50% + 1 share) of the shares of Korean won stablecoin issuers.

Regardless of regulatory outcomes, the entities that will obtain domestic stablecoin licenses are likely to be limited. Therefore, a modular approach where a few licensed issuers share common technological infrastructure while other companies expand services using it is valid.

3.2. Payment: Finding Opportunities in the Backend

For the success of the payment business, a clear division of roles must be established. The frontend is the area where existing PG companies, card companies, and remittance operators maintain their user experience (UX) advantages.

Substantial opportunities exist in backend solutions. A dedicated B2B software market that provides prepaid balance tracking, settlement deadline management, and real-time risk control features for payment companies' fund management departments falls under this category.

To ensure the real-time operation of such backend systems, high-performance blockchain rails are essential. Blockchains that cannot meet the strict settlement cycles of card networks inevitably face settlement delay issues.

Stablecoin payment infrastructure company Rain has built a card issuance solution based on Monad. Since Rain handles settlement, card company partnerships, and compliance in one go, fintech clients can focus solely on frontend management. Furthermore, the stablecoins used for payments are tied to prepaid accounts, ensuring they do not remain idle and can generate interest and serve as collateral until payment.

The core value of the Rain model lies in the cost savings associated with batch settlements. Payment businesses that settle once or twice a day must tie up large amounts of prepaid capital to bridge the time gap between approval and settlement, which increases the burden in proportion to transaction volume. Real-time settlements minimize buffer capital, freeing up previously tied capital and significantly reducing exposure time to counterparty default risk and exchange rate fluctuation risk.

This capital inefficiency is even more pronounced in the Korean market, where trade and cross-border payments are significant. As the daily settlement scale expands, the burden of buffer capital increases, leading to a continuous rise in demand for B2B backend settlement solutions that can alleviate this issue.

3.3. RWA: Design Products, Not Tokens

Opportunities in the Korean RWA market are shifting beyond simple issuance to the distribution and operation stages post-issuance. Tokenization of assets changes the form of the assets but does not alter their inherent characteristics. Tokenized unlisted stocks remain illiquid, and investors require means to secure liquidity.

Consider a scenario where an entity holding a real estate-focused asset portfolio must sell assets at a discount to secure urgent funds. If sufficient cash is available, the entity can overcome liquidity crises while preserving its assets. RWA products should operate on the same principle and are designed with a three-layer structure.

• Illiquid Assets: Core assets that are actual investment targets and generate income, such as unlisted stocks.
• Liquid Sleeve: A separate liquidity asset pool that can be redeemed immediately, such as tokenized MMFs or stablecoins. Funds are provided through this sleeve upon investor redemption requests without disposing of illiquid assets.
• Distribution and Settlement: A technical infrastructure layer that processes investor subscription and redemption procedures in real-time.

While issuance is a one-time event, post-issuance operations are a continuous process. Investor subscriptions and redemptions, real-time price calculations, fund movements between liquid sleeves, and ledger data matching among operators, custodians, and blockchains occur continuously.

This operational process is more complex than issuance and has a high degree of interdependence among its elements. Redemptions cannot occur without accurate NAV calculations, and delays in data reflection diminish price reliability. Therefore, the product only functions correctly when the three layers are organically linked.

The case of Hamco, an asset management company licensed in the Cayman Islands, demonstrates the practical application of this structure. Hamco launched a tokenized evergreen private equity fund in September 2026. The evergreen fund has a structure that allows for continuous subscriptions and redemptions without maturity restrictions.

1. Illiquid Assets: Composed of pre-IPO stocks in the pan-Asian tech sector, private credit, and direct investment portfolios.
2. Liquid Sleeve: Operated with tokenized MMFs, credit funds, and the Agora-issued stablecoin AUSD.
3. Distribution and Settlement: Adopts Chainlink's Digital Transfer Agent standard to calculate the fund's net asset value (NAV) and supports multi-chain-based subscriptions and redemptions for qualified investors.

Each layer operates closely connected. The Synthesys rail is responsible for investor inflows, the NAV provided by Chainlink standards serves as the settlement price, and funds are immediately paid from the liquid sleeve upon redemption requests, preventing the sale of underlying assets.

If any one element is missing, the entire structure struggles to operate smoothly. In the absence of a liquid sleeve, underlying assets must be sold for each redemption, and if real-time price calculations and cross-chain settlements are inadequate, the speed of redemption processing is delayed. Furthermore, without authorized distribution channels, institutional investors' entry is restricted. Therefore, establishing an integrated linkage system among operators, custodians, and distributors post-issuance is a key opportunity for RWA business.

Currently, Korea can establish the first layer (tokenization of illiquid assets), but the remaining linkage infrastructure is still in the preparation stage. When the token securities system is implemented in February 2027, domestic securities firms may attempt to tokenize illiquid assets and combine them with institutional private MMFs or bond sleeves. However, due to the lack of a stablecoin system in Korean won, there are still constraints on utilizing stablecoins for liquid sleeves and securing overseas distribution channels.

By leveraging advanced structures like Hamco, proactive responses utilizing global infrastructure can be achieved even before institutional gaps are filled. Currently, the Monad mainnet operates products utilizing stablecoin liquidity and cross-chain settlements similar to the Hamco structure, including tokenized Korean government bonds from Etherfuse, institutional credit funds from Centrifuge, and credit vaults from Valos.

Domestic financial institutions can secure global distribution networks and stablecoin liquidity through overseas partners while simultaneously building domestic asset tokenization and licensing infrastructure. Once the domestic regulatory framework is completed, existing on-chain structures can be immediately linked with domestic infrastructure, minimizing transition costs.

4. Monad's Position Amid Korea's Rise

Building a substantial business to capture these opportunities requires considerable effort, and the first step is to choose the right architecture.

Financial services are closely linked to everyday payments and transactions. Therefore, institutions need high-performance architectures capable of processing high-frequency transactions in real-time without bottlenecks.

Monad is an EVM-compatible layer 1 blockchain that allows the use of the same smart contracts and tools as Ethereum. The mainnet was launched in November 2025. The parallel execution engine processes multiple transactions simultaneously rather than one at a time. This design targets the speed and cost requirements of financial applications.

However, speed alone does not make a chain suitable for institutional use. Even with high-performance infrastructure, institutions face two limitations.

• Liquidity Fragmentation Across Public Mainnets: Distributing liquidity across multiple chains ties up capital, increasing operational and opportunity costs during real-time settlements and rebalancing processes.
• Isolation of Private Chains: Private chains can meet internal regulatory requirements and prevent fragmentation, but they operate as independent ledgers, severing connections with public networks and global cross-border liquidity.

Monad presents an alternative that combines the advantages of these two approaches. It maintains the scalability of a public permissionless network open to everyone while simultaneously providing high-performance processing capabilities at the level of private chains.

5. Hub Chain for High-Frequency Finance

More specifically, Monad proposes a hub chain architecture to address these limitations. The hub chain is a central network where on-chain capital flows from payment networks, CEXs, and other mainnets converge. By processing core financial operations such as settlement, bridging, liquidity reallocation, and treasury management on the hub chain, institutions eliminate the need to distribute deposits across multiple blockchains, thus removing the causes of capital inefficiency.

This structure is very similar to the international air transport system, where routes connecting major cities pass through a central hub airport. Instead of leaving funds idle in individual chains, the hub chain swiftly moves funds to where they are needed at the right time. Consequently, it becomes an infrastructure suitable for operating actual on-chain businesses beyond just technology testing.

These six requirements form the technical foundation at the protocol level. In institutional due diligence, operational elements such as regulatory compliance, custodial support, liquidity depth, and network uptime must also be considered.

After the mainnet launch, the hub chain hypothesis has transitioned from architectural discussions to measurable activities over the past 10 months. Monad's total value locked (TVL) in DeFi is approximately $1 billion, with cumulative processed transactions exceeding 750 million. In consumer finance, partners include MetaMask and Rain, while in institutional credit, Centrifuge and Valos are involved, and Aave participates in DeFi infrastructure.

This $1 billion is not concentrated in a single product but is distributed across the lending market, decentralized exchanges, and stablecoin pools. New entrants can leverage this already established liquidity instead of building trading depth and counterparties from scratch.

The stablecoins, payments, and RWA opportunities discussed in this report all rely on this hub chain. Stablecoin issuers need a chain that can settle frequent small transactions at low costs, while payment providers require a chain that does not revive batch settlements. The RWA structure necessitates rapid settlements that can provide redemption funds when liquidity sleeves are required.

In all three cases, the key is not whether to use blockchain, but whether the underlying chain can meet these requirements.

6. Playbook for Domestic Financial Institutions

According to a study analyzing 6,848 banks across 29 countries in Europe and the Americas (Scott, Van Reenen and Zachariadis, 2017), the profitability of banks that adopted the interbank messaging network SWIFT increased by about 40% over the following decade. Initially, the effect was small, but it grew as the number of participating banks increased. For small banks, the effect was about six times greater than for large banks, which the authors attribute to the ability to access counterparties that were previously unreachable.

Domestic regional banks and small to medium-sized securities firms have fewer overseas branches and foreign exchange relationships compared to large financial groups. Shared on-chain infrastructure can provide them with a similar type of accessibility. Currently, they have two tracks available, each operating under different rules.

Track 1. Domestic Strategy: Building Internal Infrastructure

Under current guidelines, the domestic token securities system excludes public blockchains. The Korea Securities Depository's 2026 September ledger guidelines limit ledger participants to the depository and account management institutions and prohibit the use of virtual assets for transaction fees. From February 2027, domestic token securities will only operate on private ledgers managed by licensed intermediaries.

As financial companies are still prohibited from directly holding virtual assets under the 2017 regulatory guidelines, prior preparation in Korea is essential. Comparative cases from Asia show that financial institutions have been actively preparing before the market fully opens.

• Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has operated a stablecoin issuance sandbox involving Standard Chartered and others since 2024, granting the first two licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint in April 2026.
• Japan: The three mega banks (MUFG, Mizuho, SMBC) launched a joint consultative body for the standardization of stablecoin issuance infrastructure in June 2026, following a PoC in 2025.
• Korea: In Phase 2 of Project Han River, nine participating commercial banks are testing deposit tokens.

Specific practical tasks for domestic implementation:

1. Secure Account Management Institution Status: Apply under the amended Electronic Securities Act to participate directly in private ledgers without going through intermediaries. Apply in parallel with offshore pilots to ensure both are ready by the implementation date in February 2027.
2. Launch Pilot Products in 2027: Operate institutional private money market funds or private bonds on domestic ledgers that comply with regulations. Use the same team and operational playbook as verified offshore.
3. Form a Stablecoin Consortium: Establish early partnerships with custodians, issuers, and compliance partners for preparatory assets before the Digital Asset Basic Act is formally passed. The Financial Services Commission's roadmap requires interoperability between token securities ledgers and stablecoin ledgers in subsequent phases. Institutions already operating products on public chains will enter with the operational know-how required for that phase.

Track 2. Offshore Strategy: Immediate Global Distribution

The offshore route provides an immediate legal channel to access international capital. In August 2026, the Financial Services Commission clarified that the Electronic Securities Act does not apply when offshore entities tokenize offshore funds containing Korean underlying assets and sell them privately to non-residents while restricting resale to domestic residents.

Market demand for this structure is supported by two significant macro tailwinds.

• Offshore Won Network: The Bank of Korea is set to open in January 2027, allowing foreign banks to participate in won settlements, thereby broadening offshore liquidity channels.
• WGBI Fund Inflows: With Korea's inclusion in the FTSE World Government Bond Index (WGBI), it is projected that passive foreign capital inflows will amount to 70 to 90 trillion won.

Leading institutions have already implemented this structure. Shinhan Asset Management is structuring offshore won MMF tokens, and Mirae Asset's Hong Kong subsidiary plans to launch a tokenized class of Global X ETF in August 2026.

Specific practical tasks for offshore execution:

1. Select Target Assets: Focus on won MMFs or government bond funds that meet the Financial Services Commission's exemption criteria and foreign institution demand.
2. Establish Offshore Entities: Set up entities in financial hubs like Hong Kong or Singapore or partner with local firms.
3. Partner with Regulated Distributors: Contract with global distributors to carry out investor qualification verification and block secondary distribution to domestic residents.
4. Integrate Settlement and Liquidity Infrastructure: Utilize existing public hub chain infrastructure, such as sub-custody settlement layers and multi-chain interoperability protocols, to secure real-time subscription and redemption functionalities.

How Monad Connects the Two Tracks

Regardless of which track is chosen, Monad provides the foundational execution and settlement layers necessary for Korean institutions to transition from pilots to actual services. The core infrastructure needed for domestic preparation and immediate offshore distribution is already operational on the network without the need for companies to build custom interoperability solutions themselves.

In Track 1 (Domestic Strategy), Monad offers an EVM-compatible test environment necessary for simulating real-time settlement between private token securities ledgers and future stablecoin rails, along with sub-second finality. Track 2 (Offshore Strategy) provides global distribution components in an immediately usable form. MonadBFT guarantees sub-second finality with near-zero fees, and the stablecoin AUSD, which supports institutional liquidity sleeves, is already circulating on-chain. Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) is live on Monad, connecting offshore fund structures across the public network.

Accordingly, institutions can focus solely on what they can supply, namely the underlying Korean assets and the regulatory and legal structures surrounding them. The technology stack for global distribution and real-time B2B settlement is already in place.

The two tracks are complementary stages that form a single strategy. Track 1 builds the institutional capabilities and account management status necessary when domestic token securities and won stablecoins combine on an interoperable ledger. Track 2 accesses overseas investors immediately by leveraging the public chain liquidity and cross-chain messaging already formed under the current exemption measures from the Financial Services Commission.

Institutions pursuing both tracks simultaneously will secure immediate profits and operational experience offshore while positioning themselves to lead the domestic market when regulatory milestones arrive.

By 2030, the Korean virtual asset market will be defined by institutions that are building now, as rules are being established and infrastructure is already in place. The legal pathways are open, the settlement layer is operational, and the first Korean asset management firms have already begun to move. What remains is not another study or pilot, but the decision to operate Korean assets on that infrastructure. Institutions making this decision within the next year will define the market when 2030 arrives.