Justin Kim, head of Avalanche Asia, noted on the 16th that this year, tokenized money market funds (MMFs) participating U.S. private equity firms or corporations are rapidly growing under the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In contrast, he pointed out that the lack of related regulations in South Korea is causing slow progress in the development of the blockchain industry.
Kim noted during a speech as a speaker at the '2025 Virtual Assets Conference' hosted by CHOSUNBIZ at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul that 'South Korea is in a situation where there is no regulation at all, making it impossible to proceed in any direction, so these aspects need to be improved quickly.'
Avalanche is a blockchain corporation that issues a virtual asset with a market capitalization of $16 billion (approximately 23.5 trillion won) and ranks 11th in global market capitalization.
He recently noted that private equity firms (PEFs) and venture capital (VC) firms are entering 'tokenization' and introduced the case of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), a global PEF operator. Kim stated that KKR's equity was tokenized through the Avalanche blockchain three years ago, adding that 'this project was also approved by the SEC.' Tokenization, a core technology of blockchain, is a method of converting specific financial assets into a digital form for management. KKR is also tokenizing its funds through Avalanche.
Kim stated that he expects governments and financial institutions around the world to actively commercialize blockchain projects this year. In particular, he noted that the various actions occurring in everyday life will be converted into on-chain assets, further expanding access to financial services.
He cited that blockchain technology has evolved to a level recognized by financial authorities worldwide and that successful tokenization cases are consistently emerging. He pointed out stablecoins as a successful tokenization case. Stablecoins are virtual assets aimed at maintaining stable value by linking with specific assets such as legal currencies.
Kim said, 'The public basically perceives money in paper form, but stablecoins are the most representative case of tokenization that transforms money into digital form through blockchain.' The total market capitalization of stablecoins surpassed $200 billion (approximately 294 trillion won) for the first time last month, and at one point approached $205 billion (approximately 301 trillion won). Based on this, the MMF products have quadrupled in one year, with the issuance amount exceeding 6 trillion won.
Kim stated, 'Many financial institutions are entering the blockchain industry, changing the landscape,' and added, 'This year is expected to be a year where global corporations tokenize the daily lives of the public with more innovative ideas.'