On-Chain Finance Gains Ground, but Regulation and Liquidity Will Decide Winners at EastPoint: Seoul 2026

On-chain finance expands on accessibility and automation

Building payment, pricing and settlement infrastructure is the key challenge

On-chain finance, which involves issuing and trading financial assets on blockchain networks, will need clear regulation, ample liquidity and stable payment and settlement infrastructure to scale, according to speakers at EastPoint: Seoul 2026. They also said the range of tokenized assets could expand beyond US Treasuries and gold to include Korean stocks, cultural content and artificial intelligence computing resources.

The discussion took place at EastPoint: Seoul 2026, held on Sept. 28 at the Westin Seoul Parnas in Seoul's Samseong-dong district. Participants included Jeong Seok-moon, head of research at Presto Research; Sansan Sui, head of APAC growth at M^0; Andres Kim, head of regional expansion; and Anlin Zhang, senior protocol strategist at Gauntlet.

Jeong cited accessibility and automation as the main advantages of blockchain-based financial networks, or on-chain rails. By reducing intermediary steps, they can improve transaction efficiency while boosting both asset liquidity and their use as collateral.

"The market is starting to recognize the benefits of putting assets on blockchain," Jeong said. "The shift is already visible in the US, and major financial markets will adopt on-chain infrastructure before long." He added that cooperation among market participants could help use on-chain rails to upgrade the existing financial system.

In Asia, Hong Kong is serving as a testing ground for tokenized finance, Jeong said. He said Hong Kong is about two years ahead of South Korea in regulatory clarity, with traditional financial firms actively adopting digital-asset services since the government unveiled its virtual-asset policy in 2022.

While some have criticized Hong Kong's government for not moving fast enough, he said, it still offers the clearest regulatory framework among Asian markets. Companies looking to issue tokenized assets or pursue related businesses should pay attention to Hong Kong.

Jeong also said broad applicability of underlying assets will be crucial if tokenization is to attract global demand. Demand is currently concentrated in internationally accepted assets such as the US dollar, Treasuries and gold. Over time, AI computing resources could also be tokenized and used for trading and collateral.

Sui identified regulatory compliance and liquidity as the core challenges for on-chain finance. Crypto firms need considerable time to build compliance systems that match traditional finance, and trading structures differ between conventional assets and on-chain markets. Traditional assets do not trade and settle around the clock, while on-chain lending markets operate continuously, creating timing gaps in pricing and liquidation.

"To move beyond proof of concept and offer real services, institutions first need to identify which assets they want to put on-chain," Sui said. He added that issuers, on-chain market makers and curators responsible for asset allocation and risk management need to build liquidity together.

Speakers also said the success of tokenized assets may be determined less by issuance than by distribution and settlement. For an investor in Africa to buy Korean stocks, the market must solve how that investor can make payment locally and receive the asset, Kim said. Tether's strategy is not to own every blockchain and service directly, but to provide the payment and liquidity foundation that allows partners to distribute assets.

Kim also cited Korean stocks and cultural content as promising candidates for tokenization. He pointed to rights tied to participation in K-pop album production, as well as shares and funds linked to Korean companies. K-pop and Korean consumer and content companies already have global recognition and could attract overseas investor demand once regulations are in place.

Risk management remains another challenge, Zhang said. When tokenized assets are incorporated into on-chain finance, the first issues to examine are settlement delays, the accuracy of pricing data and whether liquidation is feasible. Unlike natively blockchain-based assets, real-world assets are harder to trade or convert into cash immediately, meaning position limits should be set conservatively for each asset.

"If on-chain price data is delayed, or if settlement of the underlying asset takes more than a day, risk can increase," Zhang said. Gauntlet allocates position limits by asset after analyzing liquidity and the reliability of pricing data. He added that AI-driven risk-management technology and the tokenization of computing resources could become a new market for on-chain finance.

Jang Hyun-joo, reporter / Hwang Doo-hyun, Bloomingbit reporter