Stablebond Era Emerges as Korea Regulation Gaps Drive RWA Tokenized Bonds

With Korea lagging on stablecoin rules, firms pursue Stablebond—tokenized, yield-bearing bonds backed by real-world assets—fueling cross-border RWA activity.

Rich by Coin

2026-01-26

At home, regulatory work on who should issue stablecoins has lagged, while overseas attention is turning to Stablebond, a tokenized bond. EtherFuse, known as an RWA platform, has been selling the so-called Stablebond that enables purchases of blockchain-based Mexican bonds using USDC after three years of discussions with Mexican financial regulators since 2021. In its whitepaper, EtherFuse describes Stablebond as a tokenized bond, arguing that unlike USDC/USDT, where the issuer earns the revenue, Stablebond pays yields to investors and gives access to foreign bonds previously limited to a few, thereby pursuing wealth democratization.

In Korea, tokenized securities were defined only this year under the revised Capital Markets Act. Securities firms are eyeing new revenue opportunities from this. Shinhan Investment & Securities expects to strengthen brokerage revenue through Stablebond by partnering with EtherFuse. Because Stablebond requires holding real bonds, EtherFuse will need partners to handle this work.

EtherFuse plans to issue Stablebond backed by Korean government bonds in the future. Shinhan Investment & Securities will handle government-bond brokerage and support for acquiring and managing real assets to help EtherFuse secure Korean government bonds and operate them stably. However, because the relevant regulations do not exist domestically, won-denominated Stablebond based on won government bonds will not be sold to Korean investors. Moreover, there is no won-denominated stablecoin, so even if such a product is issued, settlement is expected to be in USDC.

Shinhan Investment & Securities said, “This case goes beyond a proof of concept to a public, real-world asset–based RWA model where actual issuance and circulation occur, making it the first case connecting Korean financial assets with global blockchain infrastructure.” Jin Ok-dong, chairman of Shinhan Financial Group, emphasized that this government bond tokenization collaboration will serve as a symbolic milestone delivering new value to customers and strengthening trust.