From Retail Craze to Institutional Frontier
South Korea is rapidly moving away from its historical reputation as a volatile, retail-dominated crypto market characterized by the Kimchi Premium. Andrew Park, CEO of Factblock and organizer of Korea Blockchain Week, notes that international interest has evolved. While global companies once focused primarily on tokens and exchange prices, overseas financial institutions now inquire about custody, tokenization, stablecoins, settlement infrastructure, and regulatory compliance.
Policy updates are facilitating this institutional shift. The Financial Services Commission has established a framework to grant approximately 3,500 listed corporate entities and registered professional investors legal account access to trade digital assets. Additionally, amendments to the Capital Markets Act and the Electronic Securities Act passed by the National Assembly have integrated tokenized real-world assets and security tokens into a unified statutory framework.
The Back-Office Infrastructure and Legacy Banking
Park emphasizes that institutional adoption relies on resolving unglamorous back-office realities, such as accounting definitions, compliance, and legal settlement, rather than relying on volatile market rallies. Drawing on his background in traditional finance, Park explains that traditional banking software prioritizes risk management—such as handling fraud, payment failures, capital management, and regulatory reporting—rather than lagging simply due to a lack of technological understanding.
The Machine-to-Machine Economy
Looking ahead, South Korea is exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and programmable rails. The Bank of Korea has completed initial trials for its real-world deposit token initiatives under Project Hangang and plans phase two trials in late 2026 for deposit tokens integrated with autonomous AI agents. These tests explore environments where AI agents can use wholesale deposit tokens to execute automated, conditional transactions and real-time payments.
