KSD CEO Lee Soon-ho: "We will thoroughly prepare for the token securities market"

2025 First Half CEO Press Conference

Lee Soon-ho, CEO of Korea Securities Depository (KSD), stated on the 6th, "We will thoroughly prepare our response capabilities for new markets such as token securities in anticipation of various electronic registration services based on digital technologies like blockchain."

During the '2025 First Half CEO Press Conference' held in Yeouido, Seoul, CEO Lee emphasized, "The radical changes in the financial market, such as the emergence of the token securities market and the institutional incorporation of virtual assets, are expected to bring significant changes to the Central Securities Depository (CSD) industry as well."

Token securities are new electronic securities with enhanced reliability using blockchain technology, which is also used for virtual assets. They are emerging as a means to facilitate 'fractional investment,' where investors put money into parts of assets such as artwork or real estate and receive dividend income.

Legislation to legalize the token securities market (amendments to the Electronic Securities Act and Capital Markets Act) is currently being discussed in the National Assembly. If passed, it is expected to enter a full-scale institutionalization phase.

KSD is currently building a 'Token Securities Testbed Platform.' This platform is a system for managing the total volume of token securities issued and distributed on distributed ledgers. The plan is to conduct external distributed ledger integration tests and comprehensive tests in two phases by May, with the platform set to launch in June.

Additionally, CEO Lee stated, "To promote the integrated national bond account introduced last year, we will actively pursue improvements to related laws and systems, and smoothly perform the early redemption of personal investment bonds to create a stable national bond investment environment."

He continued, "We will also successfully execute other key business tasks this year, such as promoting the use of the electronic securities system, reorganizing the securities settlement system, and advancing the securities information management framework, to lead the leap forward in the financial market."

He also emphasized that KSD will focus on researching and commercializing key innovative technologies such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) and cloud computing, and concentrate on developing the 'KSD Innovative Financial Platform,' a next-generation computing system to enhance internal operational efficiency.

Shin Min-kyung, Hankyung.com reporter radio@hankyung.com