Korean finance giant links up with Polygon Labs on tokenized securities
Mirae Asset Securities looks to advance tokenization within finance, and South Korea, through a partnership with the Ethereum scaling architecture builder
Satheesh Sankaran/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks
Korean financial giant Mirae Asset Securities is teaming up with Polygon Labs to support the growth of tokenized securities networks.
The move comes as more institutions have launched initiatives in the segment. Polygon Labs is set to be a “technical consultant” in the Mirae Asset Security Token Working Group, the companies revealed Wednesday.
The consortium will focus on building the infrastructure for tokenized securities platforms, as well as the technology needed to issue and distribute tokenized securities.
Ahn In-sung, head of Mirae’s digital division, said in a statement that the company seeks to establish “global leadership in the field of tokenized securities.”
Mirae Asset Securities is a subsidiary of Mirae Asset Financial Group, which had $565 billion in assets under management as of June.
Its latest working group is separate from the security token consortium — called Next Finance Initiative (NFI) — that Mirae became a part of with SK Telecom, Hana Financial Group, and others, in June.
“[Mirae’s] foray into tokenization will undoubtedly help accelerate the mass adoption of web3 among other financial institutions,” Polygon Labs Executive Chair Sandeep Nailwal added in a statement. “At the same time, Mirae’s initiatives will also greatly contribute to establishing interoperability between South Korea’s domestic financial systems and their foreign counterparts.”
A spokesperson for the companies did not comment on the specifics of planned initiatives.
The partnership comes as a range of financial institutions have embarked on various tokenization initiatives in recent years. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has touted tokenizing assets, noting its potential to drive efficiencies in capital markets.
Read more: TradFi, DeFi convergence continues through tokenizing real-world assets
JPMorgan used the Polygon blockchain to trade tokenized Japanese yen last year as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian pilot. DBS Bank and SBI Digital Asset also participated in the program.
Last year, Hamilton Lane partnered with digital asset securities firm Securitize to make three of its funds available via tokenized feeder funds. More recently, Securitize bought digital asset wealth platform Onramp Investors to offer tokenized alternatives to the registered investment adviser (RIA) market.
Executives at WisdomTree, a fund group that manages nearly $100 billion in assets, said in July they intend to capitalize on the firm’s “early mover status in tokenization” after launching a blockchain-enabled consumer app in July.
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