Restructuring on-chain capital markets: What should Korea prepare? [Crypto Insight]

The US digital asset market is being restructured into a single on-chain financial stack. Settlement assets, tokenized financial assets, custody, collateral and clearing, market surveillance, and AI-powered institutional trading interfaces are converging into one unified architecture. A financial infrastructure is taking shape in which asset issuance, rights recording, collateral transfer, settlement and supervisory data are processed in a continuous, integrated flow.

Korea must design its own integrated digital asset framework — one built on four pillars: a won-denominated settlement asset, a tokenized capital market, an institutional market structure, and regulatory coherence. The task goes beyond amending individual laws or licensing service providers. What is needed is a design that aligns stablecoins and foreign exchange management, asset tokenization, custody and the supervisory framework into a single operational structure.

The first pillar is a won-denominated settlement asset. A won stablecoin must be designed as the settlement asset for a won-based on-chain capital market. Security token payments, fund redemptions, digital bond repayments, collateral transfers, corporate settlements and foreign exchange reporting would all connect to this won settlement asset. Issuer eligibility, reserve assets, redemption rights, bank account linkage and custody standards must also be defined within the same structure. The competitiveness of a won stablecoin will come from recognition as an institutionally sanctioned asset capable of settling tokenized assets, collateral, corporate payments and foreign exchange data.

The second pillar is a tokenized capital market. Security tokens are, at their core, a digitization of the capital market's ledger. Rights recording, transfer agency, depository and settlement, custody, collateral creation, dividends and voting rights, and the resolution of claims in bankruptcy must all be designed together. A tokenized market functions only when asset tokenization, settlement assets, custodians, collateral valuation and clearing procedures are integrated. This gives capital markets the operational efficiency of processing issuance, distribution, collateral and settlement on a single digital ledger — and opens the door to foreign investor participation and institutional liquidity. The competitiveness of tokenization lies in the ability to connect rights and collateral directly to financial institution ledgers.

The third pillar is an institutional market structure. Exchanges handle listing, price discovery and market surveillance; banks manage won settlement and reserve assets; securities firms handle tokenized securities and institutional brokerage; futures companies manage hedging and margin; custodians oversee key management and collateral creation; and fintech firms provide wallets and AI-powered payment interfaces. The focus of institutionalization is the allocation of responsibility, risk and revenue models across each type of financial institution.

The fourth pillar is regulatory coherence. In on-chain finance, supervision converges at the settlement stage. Asset transfers, collateral creation, redemption claims and foreign exchange reporting obligations are all tied to the settlement process. Reserve assets, custody balances, collateral values, foreign exchange filings, anti-money laundering checks, sanctions screening and AI payment authorizations must be automatically identified at the transaction level. At the same time, Korea's regulatory regime must align with global standards. When stablecoin issuers, reserve assets, redemption rights, custodians, trading platforms and the rights structures of tokenized assets are mutually compatible with international norms, the domestic market can connect to overseas liquidity.

Korea's digital asset framework must be designed so that all four pillars operate within a single on-chain financial infrastructure. When settlement, collateral, custody, supervisory data and regulatory compatibility are in place, won-denominated assets can circulate within a cross-border digital financial network, and domestic financial institutions can secure new roles in issuance, brokerage, custody and collateral management. The central challenge of Korea's digital asset institutionalization is designing the financial operating system that connects the domestic market to the global on-chain capital market.