[Edaily Marketin Reporter Won Jae-yeon ] As SK Hynix’s American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) began trading on the Nasdaq, stock tokens based on these ADRs were launched one after another overseas. While they all track the same Hynix stock price, they differ in terms of actual shareholder rights, redemption methods, and dividend processing. Although products tracking the stock prices of leading domestic companies have seen over 20 billion won in trading volume in just four days, there remains a regulatory vacuum in South Korea regarding everything from the legal nature of these products to their sale, distribution, and investor protection standards.

According to the virtual asset market data site CoinGecko on the 14th, the cumulative trading volume of three types of stock tokens issued based on SK Hynix ADRs from the 10th through that day totaled $14,619,305 (approximately 21.8 billion won). SK Hynix made its debut on the Nasdaq through an ADR listing on the 10th, and on the same day, Backpack Securities, X-Stocks, and Ondo Finance issued related tokens.

“SKHY,” issued by Backpack Securities, accounted for approximately 80% of the total trading volume during this period, with $11,728,171 (approximately 17.5 billion won) in trading. XStocks’ “SKHYx” saw trading volume of $1,518,924 (approximately 2.27 billion won), while Ondo Finance’s “SKHYon” saw trading volume of $1,372,210 (approximately 2.05 billion won).

Binance also began trading “SKHYB,” a tokenized security based on SK Hynix ADRs, on the 13th. This is a certificate-based product issued on a 1:1 basis by Binance affiliate V-Tech Holdings after depositing SK Hynix ADRs with a U.S. regulated custodian.

As a result, the number of stock tokens issued based on SK Hynix ADRs has increased to four: SKHY from Backpack, SKHYx from X-Stocks, SKHYon from Ondo, and SKHYB from Binance. Including Binance’s perpetual futures, which track the ADR price, there are now a total of five overseas products linked to SK Hynix’s stock price.

These products are not issued or approved directly by SK Hynix. The structure involves overseas operators purchasing ADRs on the market, holding them in custody, and then issuing tokens or debt certificates using them as collateral. While one SK Hynix ADR corresponds to 0.1 share of domestically listed common stock, token holders do not immediately become SK Hynix shareholders. The rights investors can exercise and the methods for claiming redemption from the issuer also vary depending on the contractual structure of each product.

The tokenization market, based on traditional financial assets such as stocks and bonds, is growing rapidly. According to RWA.xyz, a platform for analyzing real-world asset (RWA) data, the market capitalization of tokenized stocks stood at $1.87 billion (approximately 2.8 trillion won) as of the 14th, a 22.5% increase from a month earlier. The market, which had remained in the $300 million range until the first half of last year, has expanded sharply since the start of this year.

While discussions on tokenized securities in Korea have focused on fractional investments in non-traditional assets such as real estate, art, and music, overseas markets are rapidly forming where traditional financial products—such as listed stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and bonds—are traded on the blockchain. There are also a growing number of cases where overseas operators are tokenizing and trading shares of Korean companies, including SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, before their domestic counterparts do.

The problem is that while tokenized products based on shares of domestic listed companies are spreading, the regulatory standards to govern them have not kept pace. The Financial Services Commission plans to announce amendments to subordinate regulations and guidelines related to tokenized securities by the end of this month. However, current discussions are focused on establishing issuance standards for fractional investment products and restructuring the over-the-counter (OTC) trading market.

Financial authorities maintain the position that tokenized stocks should be regulated as securities under the Capital Markets Act based on their economic substance, rather than their name or the technology used for issuance. However, it has not yet been clearly determined how products—such as those offered by X-Stocks or Ondo, where overseas operators secure actual shares and then issue separate tokens—should be classified among trust beneficiary certificates, debt securities, or structured securities.

Taxation policies are also still in the early stages of development. The government views stock tokens as securities rather than virtual assets and maintains that capital gains tax on foreign stocks and dividend income tax may apply. However, product structures—such as tracking certificates and structured bonds—vary, and there is a lack of infrastructure to track transactions moving between overseas exchanges and personal wallets.

An official from the domestic tokenized securities industry stated, “While overseas operators are rapidly capturing the market for the tokenization of traditional securities using shares of domestic companies, domestic operators do not even have the institutional channels to issue or distribute related products,” adding, “Unless standards for the domestic sale and distribution of overseas-issued products, along with investor protection principles, are established promptly, the market and transaction data could become dependent on overseas platforms.”