By Arnaldur Skorri Jónsson

Last week the Korea Securities Depository (KSD) pledged to expand its business into the digital asset space by building a platform for security tokens to accommodate the rise of a specific blockchain use case enabling fractional asset ownership.

“We will establish a securities token platform and set up specific business models for the emerging industry,” KSD CEO Lee Soon-ho told reporters during a press conference. “The KSD already built a medium- to long-term roadmap in the area. But as no specifics have been confirmed as to how the industry will grow, we will play the role of screening the registration of the tokens and managing the total amount of issued tokens here for the time being.”

KSD’s initiative reflects the growing attention on security tokens as the Financial Services Commission (FSC) approved the issuance and distribution of security tokens last February. Enabling investors to trade fractionalized traditional assets through the use of security tokens.

The financial industry identifies the security token space as a prominent space for growth due to rising digital asset demand in recent years.

Lee Soon-ho also expanded on the support needed to successfully develop and accelerate the industry:

“We are still discussing what other specific roles we can play, as it has not been specifically defined how the industry will be developed here,” he said, and continued:

“For now, we support any legislative activities within the industry. The KSD will do its best to help securities tokens and fractional investment tokens settle in the market without difficulty.”