Avalanche’s native token climbed more than 5% on Sunday after Hanwha Investment & Securities, the brokerage arm of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, officially launched a tokenized securities platform built on the blockchain network.

AVAX traded near $8.06, marking a 5.24% gain over the preceding 24 hours, with its market capitalization reaching roughly $3.48 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. The rally underscores growing investor confidence in Avalanche’s positioning within South Korea’s rapidly evolving digital asset infrastructure.

The platform has been under development since 2025, with blockchain engineering led by FairSquare Lab. It combines Avalanche’s public blockchain with Hyperledger Besu, an open-source Ethereum client widely adopted across South Korea’s financial sector for enterprise applications. Tokenized securities represent traditional financial instruments such as stocks and bonds recorded on distributed ledgers, enabling greater transparency, easier transferability, and improved operational efficiency.

Hanwha has not disclosed specific details regarding public access to the platform. However, the dual-blockchain architecture signals a meaningful collaboration between public and permissioned infrastructure in a market that has historically favored enterprise-grade solutions.

Avalanche confirmed the development, stating that the launch places the network “at the center of bringing traditional assets into global onchain markets.”

Regulatory framework taking shape

South Korea’s National Assembly has amended the Electronic Securities Act and the Capital Markets Act to formally recognize distributed ledgers as legal securities registers. The changes, finalized in January, take effect on February 4, 2027, establishing the legal foundation for large-scale tokenized securities adoption.

The Financial Services Commission, the country’s top financial regulator, has outlined a three-phase integration plan. The initial stage covers privately placed money-market funds, institutional corporate bonds, unlisted stocks issued through trust structures, and publicly offered fractional investment securities.

Rollout PhaseKey Assets CoveredTimelinePhase 1Money-market funds, institutional bonds, unlisted stocks, fractional securitiesInitial rolloutPhase 2All publicly offered securitiesSubsequent stagePhase 3On-chain settlement with stablecoinsFinal stage

Note: Timeline details reflect the Financial Services Commission’s published framework for blockchain integration.

The Korea Securities Depository, which serves as the central securities depository for the country, is developing its own infrastructure to support these legal and technical updates. The system will interface with Avalanche, Hyperledger Besu, and Hyperledger Fabric. According to a depository official quoted by Seoul Economic Daily, Avalanche’s inclusion was driven by demand from participants in the tokenized securities working group.

Hanwha’s broader digital asset strategy

The platform launch represents one component of a wider push into digital assets by Hanwha Group, a conglomerate with roughly $200 billion in assets spanning finance, manufacturing, and services. Across three affiliates, the group has accumulated a 9.6% equity stake in Securitize, making it the largest shareholder in the tokenization firm.

In July, Hanwha Investment & Securities invested 30 billion Korean won, approximately $22.3 million, into Digital Asset, the company behind the Canton Network blockchain interoperability project.

Hanwha Group CEO Byung-ho Jang has articulated a vision to reposition the brokerage as a digital asset-focused institution, with end-to-end real-world asset tokenization encompassing issuance, custody, and trading executed on-chain in real time.

The combination of regulatory clarity, depository infrastructure development, and major corporate participation positions South Korea as one of the most advanced jurisdictions for tokenized securities globally. For Avalanche, securing a role in both private-sector platforms and national market infrastructure could translate into sustained network activity as the February 2027 deadline approaches.