KB Securities taps Securitize, Optimism for Korean tokenized funds

KB Securities has signed a three-party agreement with Securitize and the Optimism Foundation to develop tokenized funds for Korean institutional investors, starting with a planned money market fund on OP Mainnet.

In a Sep. 23 release shared with crypto.news, KB Securities said that the memorandum of understanding covers the development and distribution of tokenized securities in South Korea. Under the proposed arrangement, the brokerage would bring its institutional client base and securities issuance and distribution experience, while Securitize would provide tokenization infrastructure and Optimism would provide blockchain technology.

The companies plan to begin with a money market fund for institutional clients. KB Securities also intends to develop a tokenized fund based on one of KB Asset Management’s flagship strategies, though the release did not name the strategy or give a launch date for either product. The money market fund is planned for OP Mainnet, the Optimism network selected for the first product.

A memorandum of understanding sets out the parties’ planned cooperation; the announcement is not a product launch. KB Securities said later stages could include tokenized stocks and American depositary receipts, corporate bonds and Korean government bonds as the country’s rules permit. It is also exploring whether it can offer existing tokenized funds from global asset managers to institutions in Korea.

KB Securities plans funds before stocks and bonds

The initial focus on funds puts the proposed products close to the first stage of South Korea’s tokenized securities framework. In its three-stage tokenization roadmap, covered by crypto.news on Sep. 4, the Financial Services Commission said selected privately pooled money market funds and institutional bonds would be among the products eligible when amended securities rules take effect on Feb. 4, 2027. Later stages would extend the framework to publicly offered securities and then connect securities settlement with stablecoin-based payments.

The FSC said existing licensed financial firms would be able to handle tokenized securities within the scope of their licenses. It also plans revisions to rules under the country’s capital-markets and electronic-registration laws. For KB Securities, the pace and scope of that work will matter as it moves from planned funds toward publicly offered shares and other instruments.

CEO Kang Jin-doo said the agreement would bring together the companies’ respective capabilities for products serving domestic institutional investors. KB Securities would continue to monitor regulatory and market developments as it works with global partners, he said.

The fund plans sit alongside work by other Korean brokerages on different parts of the transaction. On Sep. 21, Eugene Investment & Securities agreed to test stablecoin settlement with BEATOZ. Their trial will examine whether subscriptions, payments, and settlement for tokenized securities can run through a connected blockchain system. Eugene built a tokenized securities platform in 2024 and took part in a Korea Securities Depository pilot in 2025.

OP Mainnet is slated to host the first product

For Optimism, the agreement places OP Mainnet in a planned institutional securities product rather than a general blockchain trial. The release identifies the network for the first money market fund, while leaving the technical design, issuance structure, and launch timing to be detailed later.

Jing Wang, CEO and co-founder of OP Labs, described KB Securities’ choice of OP Mainnet as “an early signal that this model works beyond the U.S. dollar market.” Her comment points to the Korean focus of the planned products, although the announcement has not specified the currency or assets of the first fund.

Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said the companies were bringing tokenization infrastructure to Korean capital markets. The proposed division of work would put Securitize between KB Securities’ product and distribution operations and the blockchain network used to record the tokens.

KB Securities is part of KB Financial Group. According to the company figures included in the release, it held 76.5 trillion won in total assets, and 6.9 trillion won in shareholders’ equity as of December 2025. Its operations span six countries, including the United States.

Securitize gives the deal a U.S. market connection

Securitize already operates in U.S. capital markets and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SECZ. In July, it tokenized its own common shares on Solana and Avalanche as its stock began trading on the NYSE. Securitize said the blockchain-based tokens represent the same common shares, with the same applicable legal and transfer restrictions, rather than a separate class of stock.

For U.S. investors, SECZ is an existing publicly traded way to hold shares in one of the companies involved in the Korean agreement. The Sep. 23 announcement does not give a revenue estimate, investment amount or other financial terms for the proposed collaboration, so it does not establish a measurable effect on Securitize’s earnings.

The company also works with U.S. asset managers on tokenized funds. Its platform supports BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized Treasury fund, and Securitize said it managed about $5 billion in assets as of August 2026. In July, U.S. regulatory filings showed that South Korea’s Hanwha Group had built a 9.6% stake in the company through affiliated entities and investment vehicles, making it Securitize’s largest shareholder at the time.

Beyond the two planned funds, KB Securities said any move into tokenized stocks, depositary receipts or bonds would depend on how Korea’s securities framework develops. Its separate review of global asset managers’ existing funds would concern distribution to Korean institutional clients, rather than the creation of another fund under the three-party agreement.