Base Wants 24/7 On-Chain Trading for Samsung, SK Hynix Shares, Seeks Kakao and Line Tie-Ups

Interview with Nick See Tong, Base’s head of Asia-Pacific

Building on-chain financial infrastructure linking trading, payments and lending beyond exchanges

Use of Base expands to global companies including JPMorgan and Shopify

Targeting AI agent payments, with a focus on micropayments and agentic commerce

“Korea is a market with strong trading demand” — expectations for stock and stablecoin partnerships

“Coinbase ultimately sees a future where all assets move on-chain and trade 24 hours a day,” Nick See Tong, Base’s head of Asia-Pacific, told Bloomingbit in an interview published on Oct. 20. “Base is aimed at connecting trading, payments and finance on a single on-chain infrastructure so institutions and developers can build new services on top of it. We also see AI agents joining as new economic actors, which will broaden the use of on-chain finance.”

He said use cases in the on-chain economy are expanding rapidly, from tokenized institutional assets to AI agent-based payments. In Korea, he sees strong potential for stock tokenization, stablecoins and partnerships with major platform companies.

Base is an open blockchain network incubated by U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase. It is building infrastructure that connects trading, payments and financial services on-chain, drawing on Coinbase’s institutional and user base.

Why Coinbase Built Base: Beyond an Exchange, Toward Financial Infrastructure

Coinbase created Base to build on-chain financial infrastructure that would be difficult to deliver through a centralized exchange alone. The network initially grew on Optimism’s technology. This year, it shifted to its own operating stack to improve scalability and take direct control of upgrades and its technology roadmap, expanding its role as an independent public on-chain infrastructure. Base is targeting an open, permissionless network that outside developers and financial institutions can join freely.

With its own on-chain network, Base can connect functions that are typically separated in traditional finance — trading, payments and lending — around a single asset. That can also lower costs and barriers to entry. See Tong cited some structured finance products as an example: at banks, minimum deal sizes can run from $100,000 to $200,000 because of operational, settlement and legal costs. On-chain, those processes become automated and programmable, allowing transactions to be split into smaller units.

The model also shortens the time needed to trade and deploy capital compared with traditional finance. In conventional markets, he said, it can take four to five days to sell one stock, wait for settlement, convert the currency and buy another. On-chain, swaps can happen immediately.

The same applies to lending against a stock portfolio. At banks, loan-to-value reviews can take three to four days. On-chain, collateral can be posted and a loan issued within seconds. In finance, he added, time is money, making speed one of the biggest advantages.

“JPMorgan, AmEx and Shopify Are Also on Base” as Institutional On-Chain Adoption Widens

Institutional adoption is another core focus for Base. See Tong said he is seeing more institutions, particularly in Asia, trying to access on-chain markets. As institutions begin to recognize greater regulatory clarity for crypto in the U.S., Asian firms are also starting to pay closer attention to the use cases for on-chain infrastructure. Another key driver is tokenization, which can widen distribution for financial products to global markets.

Base is also strengthening the tools needed to bring institutional assets on-chain. One example is B20, a framework developed by Base. It is designed to let institutions embed required compliance conditions — including know-your-customer checks and sanctions screening — when tokenizing stocks, stablecoins and other assets.

“When large-scale assets move on-chain, preventing money laundering, terrorist financing and flows to sanctioned countries is a critical issue for institutions,” he said. “Base Chain’s role is to ensure institutions do not have to build that infrastructure themselves from scratch.”

Participation by global companies is also increasing. See Tong pointed to JPMorgan’s tokenized deposits for institutions, Shopify’s USDC payments and efforts involving American Express. Global finance and payments companies are building products and services on Base, he said, calling that evidence of the utility of open, permissionless blockchains.

“Now AI Agents Spend Money Themselves” as Base Bets on Micropayments and Agentic Commerce

Another area Base is watching is the on-chain market that could emerge as AI agents become new economic actors. “In the past, there was digital money, but there was no economic actor that could use it on its own,” See Tong said. “AI agents could become the bridge that drives blockchain into the mainstream.”

Blockchain provides the foundation for agents to access programmable digital assets and execute transactions and payments directly, he said. AI agents are software systems that can carry out a range of tasks on their own, from e-commerce and price searches to trading and payments.

To support that shift, Coinbase has also developed x402, its own protocol for AI agent payments. At the heart of the technology is stablecoin-based micropayments, which let users pay only for the services they need, when they need them. If an AI agent uses a pricing-data API, for example, it could call for the information once and pay automatically only for that use rather than paying a monthly subscription fee. That differs from subscription-based payments because AI can access and pay for multiple datasets and services in small amounts as needed.

Base also puts builders at the center of its technology ecosystem. The goal is to expand the network’s value by growing the developer base and the number of services. “Base’s DNA is builders, and the most important thing is supporting developers who create good apps and innovation,” he said. In that environment, meme coins are also starting to expand beyond pure speculation into real services. More recently, there have been attempts to add utility to meme coins through concepts such as “stock memes” linked to tokenized equities.

“Korea Is a Market With Strong Trading Demand” as Base Eyes Stock Tokenization and Platform Partnerships

Base is highly interested in Korea as it focuses on expanding tokenized assets such as U.S. stocks. “Korea is a market with very strong demand for crypto and stock trading,” he said. “We hope that, going forward, Korean stocks such as SK Hynix and Samsung can also come on-chain.”

He also said Korea has strong potential at the intersection of agentic capabilities and trading. AI agents could analyze the financial statements of hundreds or thousands of micro-cap companies around the world and identify companies worth a closer look.

See Tong also signaled interest in working with major Korean platform companies such as Kakao and Line. “We would like to partner with major brands such as Kakao and Line,” he said. “These companies already have large distribution networks, so there could be many forms of integration, including payments and on-chain access.”

Coinbase has 100 million users who have completed KYC checks and could potentially be reached through such partnerships, he added, saying collaboration with Base and Coinbase could help Asian companies access a global user base.

He also expressed interest in won-denominated stablecoins, which are under discussion in Korea. “For now, we are waiting for legal and regulatory clarity,” he said. “If stablecoins launch on Base, we would be willing to support their growth and integration into a range of services, and we would also like to work with the South Korean government.”

He added that B20, developed by Base, is an asset standard that can reflect regulatory requirements in programmable form and could also be applied to stablecoins.

For now, Base plans to accelerate the expansion of tokenized stocks. “Over the next several months, our goal is to bring about 10 new stocks on-chain each day and secure more than 100 tokenized stocks by year-end,” See Tong said. “After that, we want to bring thousands, and ultimately tens of thousands, of stocks on-chain.”

Base is also working with market makers and liquidity providers to supply liquidity for those assets, he added.

Kang Min-seung, Bloomingbit reporter minriver@bloomingbit.io