KB Securities to Issue First Tokenized MMF on Optimism (OP) Mainnet

KB Securities Taps OP Mainnet

KB Securities, the brokerage arm of KB Financial Group — South Korea's largest banking group — is preparing to put traditional assets onchain. On September 23, 2026, the firm signed a memorandum of understanding with regulated tokenization platform Securitize and the Optimism Foundation to develop and distribute tokenized financial products for domestic institutional investors, with issuance anchored on OP Mainnet, the Ethereum layer-2 scaling network. The agreement matches three complementary stacks: KB Securities contributes its capital-markets distribution reach, Securitize supplies compliance-wrapped issuance and fund administration, and the Optimism Foundation builds the technical rails for running products on OP Mainnet, alongside system-integration and commercialization support.

The announcement marks the first time a securities unit of Korea's biggest banking group has committed to issuing tokenized products on a public network — in Optimism's own words, the moment “the biggest name in Korean finance” comes onchain for the first time. OP Labs chief executive and co-founder Jing Wang said KB Securities' choice of OP Mainnet for its first tokenized product shows the model is not confined to dollar-denominated markets, adding that more financial institutions are expected to follow as traditional capital migrates onchain. KB Securities CEO Kang Jin-doo framed the pact as groundwork for tokenized securities aimed at domestic institutional investors, saying the firm will monitor regulatory and market developments, expand cooperation with global participants and enhance its ability to deliver innovative products and services. Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo said the company is working with both partners to bring proven global tokenization infrastructure into Korea and bridge the country's traditional capital markets with its growing Web3 economy. The timing is deliberate: Korea's Financial Services Commission continues to draft rules for security token offerings, and the memorandum is structured to align with that evolving framework rather than run ahead of it.

Phased Rollout From MMFs to Korean Bonds

The rollout follows a staged plan set out in the partnership documents. The first phase targets institutional liquidity products: a tokenized money market fund (MMF) issued on OP Mainnet, in which fund shares are recorded as tokens on the blockchain rather than in a traditional register. That is followed by a tokenized investment vehicle built around a flagship strategy managed by KB Asset Management, the group's asset-management arm. From there, the three partners plan to widen coverage to tokenized equities, American depositary receipts (ADRs), corporate bonds and Korean government bonds as the domestic regulatory environment matures. In the final stage, KB Securities will explore channels for distributing established global tokenized funds — products already issued by international asset managers — to Korean institutional asset managers and wholesale clients.

Responsibilities under the MOU are clearly divided. KB Securities handles product structuring, issuance and sales. Securitize, depending on final product design, will provide the tokenization infrastructure and manage fund administration, investor ownership records and transfers. The Optimism Foundation supplies the technical foundation for operating on OP Mainnet and supports systems integration and commercialization. There is precedent for this exact pairing: BlackRock's tokenized fund BUIDL, for which Securitize handles tokenization, was expanded to OP Mainnet in November 2024 as part of a five-network deployment — meaning the infrastructure KB Securities is adopting already carries institutional assets today. What has not been disclosed matters as much as what has: the parties have not named specific products, set launch dates or detailed fee arrangements. The announcement defines direction, not a live schedule, with tokenization of real-world assets attracting institutions globally for faster settlement, smart-contract compliance and around-the-clock liquidity. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on MEXC.

Onchain Expansion Beyond Dollar Assets

Our read: the KB Securities deal is the strongest signal yet that the Optimism ecosystem's institutional story is extending beyond US dollar assets into local-currency jurisdictions, building on rails Securitize and the network validated with BUIDL. Per the partnership's own announcement, this remains an MOU covering intent — product names, launch timing and economics are still unstated. The market has not yet priced the deal: OP spot fell roughly 10% over the past 24 hours, and the network is also moving past a Cozy Finance exploit that drained $170,000 from its cover markets.