Ondo Finance Says Global Demand for Korean Stocks Is Strong, Sees Big Tokenization Upside at EastPoint: Seoul 2026

"There is ample global investor demand for Korean stocks and exchange-traded funds. If tokenization improves access for overseas investors, it could bring new capital into South Korea's financial markets."Kunal Patel, Ondo Finance's head of institutional business development for Asia and the Middle East, made the remarks in an interview with Bloomingbit on Nov. 5.Ondo Finance is a real-world asset tokenization company that enables traditional financial assets such as US Treasuries, stocks and ETFs to trade on blockchain. The company has recently expanded its business through partnerships with global financial firms including BlackRock, Mirae Asset Global Investments and KakaoPay Securities.Patel said tokenization will eventually reshape the structure of global financial markets."Tokenization is not just an efficiency upgrade. It is a structural change in financial markets," he said. "Financial markets will change significantly around tokenization."South Korea is one of the markets he is watching most closely. Bloomingbit spoke with Patel about the importance of the Korean market and the growth potential of the RWA tokenization industry."Taking Korean Stocks to Global Markets"Ondo Finance visited South Korea in September and signed a memorandum of understanding with KakaoPay Securities. The two companies are pursuing a business that would tokenize locally listed stocks and distribute them to overseas investors.Patel said there is enough global demand for Korean stocks and ETFs, but overseas investors still face hurdles including time-zone differences and account-opening requirements. Round-the-clock trading through tokenization could lower those barriers and draw new foreign capital into the Korean market.He said Ondo Finance can be especially helpful in the global distribution of tokenized assets. Issuing a token itself is relatively easy. The harder task is connecting multiple blockchains and trading platforms while building sufficient liquidity and regulatory compliance systems to distribute assets to investors around the world.Ondo Finance has spent the past five years building global distribution infrastructure and managing more than $4 billion in on-chain assets. That experience helps explain why financial companies choose to work with Ondo Finance rather than build their own platforms."Korean Investors Show Strong Demand for Tokenized Stocks"Strong interest from Korean investors in tokenization is another area Ondo Finance is watching closely.Patel shared usage data for Ondo Finance's tokenized stock platform, Ondo Stocks. South Korea is the platform's second-largest market by trading volume, while it ranks first globally in both number of accounts and active traders.User participation relative to population also stands out compared with other major Asia-Pacific markets, he added. That is why Ondo Finance sees South Korea as a priority market.Ondo Finance has been broadening its ties with Korean financial institutions, starting with a memorandum of understanding signed with Mirae Asset Global Investments in June.Patel said the partnership with Mirae Asset reflects a strong fit between the two sides. Mirae Asset has deep experience and expertise in the global ETF business, but it needed infrastructure and networks to distribute those products into on-chain markets. Ondo Finance already has a global distribution network and digital-asset technology, making the partnership a natural one.The companies plan to begin with US-listed products and later expand the partnership to Europe, Hong Kong and South Korea. Patel described the relationship as a strategic partnership aimed at growing together, rather than a simple product supply arrangement."Tokenization Will Create New Use Cases"Patel pointed to new use cases for tokenized assets as a future growth driver.Tokenized products can be used not only as investment assets but also as collateral for loans or for payments, he said. Financial markets will evolve toward an on-chain environment in which a range of services are connected through tokenization.Ondo Finance is expanding its business in line with that shift. It recently introduced Ondo Intelligent Portfolios, a product that packages multiple financial assets and investment strategies into a single token, including US Treasuries, stocks and ETFs. The company is also reviewing whether to include Asian financial assets, including those from South Korea and Japan.Ondo Finance is also pursuing businesses including perpetual futures trading backed by tokenized securities, DeFi-based lending services and services that use tokenization for investment in private shares."Positive on South Korea's Tokenization Market, but Global Connectivity Is Key"Patel also gave a positive assessment of South Korea's tokenization market.South Korea is making positive progress as it puts in place a legal definition and institutional framework for tokenized securities, he said. He added that recent meetings with South Korean National Assembly officials showed the country intends to open the market gradually.Still, he said stronger links with international financial markets will be crucial if South Korea wants to become more competitive in the global tokenization market. Korean financial firms need to keep global markets in mind from the early stages of their business. Building structures connected to global financial markets will matter more than creating closed in-house distribution networks.He also highlighted the importance of global digital-asset conferences such as EastPoint: Seoul 2026, which was held in September at the Westin Seoul Parnas in Samseong-dong, Seoul."Regulation develops through direct communication between policymakers and industry participants, and through understanding how new technologies and products could affect markets," Patel said. "Events like EastPoint help narrow that communication gap."He added that such events can help build trust and common ground between the public and private sectors and turn regulatory ideas into systems that can be put into practice.