Ondo Finance Sees Strong Global Demand for Korean Stocks, Bigger Upside From Tokenization at EastPoint: Seoul 2026

Kunal Patel, Ondo Finance’s Head of Institutional Business Development for Asia

“Tokenization will broaden access to Korean stocks”

Pushes overseas distribution of Korean stocks with Kakao Pay Securities

“Korea ranks No. 1 globally in active Ondo Stocks traders”

Expands tokenization business through ETF partnership with Mirae Asset

“There is ample global investor demand for Korean stocks and exchange-traded funds. If tokenization improves access for overseas investors, new capital could flow 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 a Nov. 5 interview with Bloomingbit.

Ondo Finance is a real-world asset tokenization company that enables traditional financial assets such as U.S. Treasuries, stocks and exchange-traded funds to trade on blockchain. The firm has recently expanded its business through partnerships with global financial companies including BlackRock, Mirae Asset Global Investments and Kakao Pay Securities.

Patel said tokenization could eventually reshape the structure of global financial markets. It is not simply an efficiency upgrade, he said, but a structural change in how markets operate.

One of the markets he is watching most closely is Korea. Patel discussed the country’s importance and the growth potential of the real-world asset tokenization industry.

“Taking Korean stocks to global markets”

Ondo Finance visited Korea in September and signed a memorandum of understanding with Kakao Pay Securities. The companies are pursuing a business that would tokenize Korean-listed stocks and distribute them to overseas investors.

Patel said global demand for Korean stocks and ETFs is strong, but overseas investors still face hurdles including time-zone differences and the difficulty of opening accounts. If tokenization enables 24-hour trading, those barriers could be lowered and new foreign capital could be drawn into the Korean market.

He said Ondo Finance can be especially helpful in the global distribution of tokenized assets. Issuing a token is relatively easy. The harder part 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 has accumulated experience while managing more than $4 billion in on-chain assets, Patel said. That is also why financial companies choose to work with Ondo Finance rather than build their own platforms.

“Korean investors show strong demand for tokenized stocks”

Korean investors’ strong interest in tokenization is another area Ondo Finance is watching closely.

Patel disclosed usage data for Ondo Stocks, the firm’s tokenized equities platform, saying Korea is the world’s second-largest market by Ondo Stocks trading volume. It ranks first globally in both number of accounts and active traders.

He added that user participation in Korea stands out relative to the population, even compared with other major Asia-Pacific markets. That is why Ondo Finance sees Korea as a priority market.

Ondo Finance has also been broadening its ties with Korean financial institutions, starting with a memorandum of understanding with Mirae Asset Global Investments in June.

Patel said the partnership with Mirae Asset reflects an alignment of interests between the two companies. Mirae Asset has extensive experience and expertise in the global ETF business, but needed infrastructure and networks to distribute those products in on-chain markets. Ondo Finance already has a global distribution network and digital-asset technology, making the partnership a natural fit.

He said the companies plan to begin with U.S.-listed products and then expand the partnership to Europe, Hong Kong and Korea. He described the relationship as a strategic partnership for joint growth rather than a simple product supply arrangement.

“Tokenization will create new use cases”

Patel pointed to new use cases for tokenized assets as the next growth driver for tokenization.

Tokenized products can be used not only as investment assets, but also as loan collateral and for payments, he said. Financial markets will evolve toward linking a range of services on-chain through tokenization.

Ondo Finance is expanding its business in step with that shift. It recently introduced Ondo Intelligent Portfolios, which package multiple financial assets and investment strategies — including U.S. Treasuries, stocks and ETFs — into a single token. The firm is also reviewing whether to include Asian financial assets such as those from Korea and Japan.

The company is also pursuing a range of other businesses, including perpetual futures backed by tokenized securities, DeFi-based lending services and tokenization-based investment services for private shares.

“Korea’s tokenization market is promising, but global connectivity remains key”

Patel also gave a positive assessment of Korea’s tokenization market.

“Korea is making positive progress as it builds a legal definition and institutional framework for tokenized securities,” he said. “I recently met with officials from South Korea’s National Assembly and could see a direction toward opening the market in stages.”

Still, he said Korea needs stronger links with international financial markets if it wants to sharpen its competitiveness in the global tokenization market. Korean financial companies need to keep global markets in mind from the outset. Rather than building closed distribution networks of their own, they should create structures connected to global financial markets.

He also cited the importance of global digital-asset conferences such as EastPoint: Seoul 2026, which was held in September at the Westin Seoul Parnas in Seoul’s Samseong-dong district.

“Regulation develops through direct communication between policymakers and industry participants, and through understanding the impact new technologies and products can have,” Patel said. “Events like EastPoint play an important role in narrowing that communication gap.”

He added that such events can help build trust and shared understanding between the public and private sectors, and contribute to turning regulatory ideas into workable systems.