South Korea plans to implement securities tokenization rules in 2027, setting capital thresholds for issuing companies and trading limits for retail investors

The Financial Services Commission of South Korea has proposed regulatory guidelines for the issuance and trading of security tokens, intending to allow stocks, bonds, funds, and certain fractional investment securities to be issued and circulated in token form. The relevant regulatory framework is scheduled to take effect on February 4, 2027.

According to the proposal, securities token issuance companies that directly manage client accounts must have a paid-in capital of at least 4 billion Korean Won and be equipped with dedicated compliance and technical personnel. The revision of capital market regulations will also introduce an over-the-counter trading license for bonds and limit individual investors' annual net purchases at each over-the-counter exchange to within 100 million Korean Won.

The proposal will be open for public consultation from Friday until November 11, after which it will enter the approval process. South Korea previously announced a roadmap to advance the transition of securities issuance and trading to distributed ledger infrastructure in three phases.