Plume Network and Shinhan Asset Management have signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct a proof of concept for a South Korean won-denominated tokenized fund, marking a notable effort to introduce non-dollar institutional assets into blockchain-based capital markets.
The initiative will utilize a fund linked to KRW ultra-short-term bonds as its underlying asset and will systematically examine the technical and regulatory requirements necessary to bring such a product onchain. The project is explicitly confined to technical verification and will not involve actual issuance or distribution.
To ensure compliance with domestic regulatory boundaries, the test will be conducted within an isolated structure in a third jurisdiction, incorporating both contractual and technical barriers to prevent participation by Korean residents.
The proof of concept is designed to benchmark BlackRock’s tokenized fund framework, commonly known by its BUIDL model, representing the first attempt to apply such an institutional structure to a won-denominated asset.
Participants will evaluate the full lifecycle of a tokenized fund, including onchain operational architecture, whitelist-based transfer restrictions, and the functionality of integrated customer identification and anti-money laundering protocols. The initiative arrives as onchain capital markets have grown to exceed three hundred billion dollars in stablecoin balances, yet remain heavily concentrated in dollar-denominated instruments with minimal utilization of Korean won assets.
For Shinhan Asset Management, the collaboration represents a strategic effort to apply institutional-grade infrastructure standards to won-denominated instruments and to preemptively accumulate capabilities for tokenized financial products. The asset manager has emphasized that the current phase remains strictly preparatory, with any future issuance or distribution contingent upon alignment with relevant statutes and formal regulatory confirmation procedures.
Because South Korea’s domestic tokenized security framework is not yet operational, activities will be confined to technical validation and infrastructure readiness until formal domestic systems are introduced.
Plume contributes established regulatory credentials to the partnership, holding a United States Securities and Exchange Commission-registered transfer agent license and participating in the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation’s Digital Assets Solutions Industry Working Group alongside Nasdaq, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan. That working group is focused on establishing industry standards for tokenized services ahead of anticipated market launches.
By combining Plume’s onchain technical infrastructure with Shinhan’s asset management expertise, the parties aim to develop a compliant pathway for connecting high-quality won-denominated assets to global investors while addressing the current structural imbalance in onchain currency representation. The long-term objective is to create mechanisms that could eventually channel overseas capital into domestic markets through regulated, won-based digital instruments.
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