South Korean financial giant Shinhan Asset Management has announced the development of a pilot tokenized fund denominated in Korean won (KRW) on the Solana blockchain. The product, focused on ultra-short-term bonds for offshore institutional investors, fully replicates the structure of BlackRock's BUIDL fund — the largest player in the real-world asset (RWA) sector.
To launch the project, Shinhan signed a four-party agreement with the Solana Foundation, fintech platform Etherfuse and decentralized exchange Orca. As part of the proof of concept (PoC), the partners are testing the entire operational cycle, from customer verification (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures to foreign exchange compliance.
Orca's role in this chain will be to provide on-chain liquidity for asset conversions, fully replicating the institutional standards embedded in BlackRock's business model.
Solana was selected because of its current position in the tokenization market. The network ranks third globally by the value of distributed RWA assets, with $3.86 billion, and leads by the number of launched projects, with 2,678 compared with Ethereum's 2,268. Meanwhile, the market capitalization of stablecoins on the network exceeds $15.9 billion.
Shinhan is deploying its product within an ecosystem where BlackRock's architecture has already proven effective in practice. The BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund operates on Solana with $695 million in assets, making it the network's undisputed leader.
Other major players rely on the same proven blockchain infrastructure blueprint, including the Janus Henderson AAA CLO Fund with $201.7 million, Ondo U.S. Dollar Yield with $179.3 million and the State Street Galaxy OnChain Liquidity Sweep Fund with $161 million.
Why the Korean won is moving offshore on Solana
According to Shinhan CEO Lee Seok-won, the company aims to become a leading issuer of won-denominated digital products.
All fund operations are currently being conducted offshore and are limited to technical validation. This is due to the regulatory timeline: official rules for security token offerings (STOs) will not take effect in South Korea until February 2027.
While the market awaits regulatory changes, Shinhan is building a fully operational infrastructure ahead of the opening of domestic trading.
Against the backdrop of BCG's forecast that the global RWA market will grow from its current $36 billion to $30 trillion by 2030, the adoption of successful Western models makes Solana a leading contender for integration with Korean capital.
