Shinhan Asset Management partners with Solana Foundation for tokenized fund pilot

Shinhan Asset Management to test tokenized fund with Solana blockchain

Shinhan Asset Management, one of South Korea’s largest financial firms, has partnered with the Solana Foundation, Etherfuse, and Orca to test a tokenized fund. The fund will be denominated in Korean won and aims to allow overseas investors to buy a short-term bond fund managed by Shinhan.

The partnership was announced on August 21, 2026, through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by all four parties. The goal is to create a proof-of-concept (PoC) for issuing and distributing the tokenized fund on the Solana blockchain, a digital ledger that records transactions.

What the partnership involves

• The tokenized fund will be modeled after BlackRock’s BUIDL, a similar fund that uses blockchain technology.
• The fund’s structure is still under review but will involve issuing tokens representing ownership of the bond fund.
• The PoC will test compliance with know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) rules, security audits, and blockchain operations.
• Shinhan Asset Management oversees $96.6 billion in assets as of August 2026.

New South Korean regulations enable tokenized securities

In January 2026, South Korea’s National Assembly passed amendments to establish a legal framework for security token offerings (STOs). STOs allow traditional financial assets, like bonds or funds, to be represented as digital tokens on a blockchain. These amendments will take effect in February 2027.

The new regulations have encouraged financial institutions in South Korea to explore tokenized securities. In April 2026, the country’s Ministry of Finance and Economy also launched a pilot project to test blockchain-based deposit tokens for official expenses.

Why this pilot matters

The partnership aims to prepare Shinhan Asset Management for the upcoming STO regulations. Lee Seok-won, CEO of Shinhan Asset Management, stated that the goal is to "proactively secure capabilities that can be activated immediately upon the system's implementation."

The global market for tokenized real-world assets, excluding stablecoins (digital currencies pegged to traditional money), was valued at approximately $36.27 billion in 2026, a 2,200% increase since 2020, according to a report cited in the announcement.

What is still unclear

• The exact structure of the tokenized fund is still under review.
• It is not confirmed whether the fund will be available to retail investors or limited to institutional investors.
• The timeline for launching the fund after the PoC is not specified.

Sources

• The Block