Mirae Asset teams up with Polygon Labs for tokenized securities

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Securities Co. has partnered with Polygon Labs, a New York-based global blockchain company, for financial tokenization.

The brokerage unit of Korea’s leading asset manager Mirae Asset Financial Group said on Friday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Polygon Labs to jointly develop an ecosystem for tokenized securities in Korea and abroad.

Polygon Labs, an international software developer that builds blockchain scaling infrastructure, is behind the layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution Polygon, which enhances the efficiency of transactions on the Ethereum network.

Under the MOU, Polygon Labs will serve as a technical adviser for the Mirae Asset Security Token Working Group, which is working to create infrastructure to issue, exchange and distribute tokenized securities.

Tokenization is a concept where tangible assets – from real estate and fine art to bonds and stocks – are converted into digital tokens on a blockchain.

TOKENIZED SECURITIES: NAME OF THE GAME IN FINANCE

Mirae Asset joins a growing list of global asset managers that have leveraged Polygon to offer tokenized securities. Franklin Templeton and Hamilton Lane have already initiated tokenized projects on Polygon’s platform.

Last year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore piloted a tokenization project named Project Guardian, which saw transactions in foreign exchange and sovereign bonds conducted on Polygon.

Ahn In-sung, head of Mirae Asset’s digital assets division, said that through Polygon’s shared technical expertise, Mirae hopes to position itself as a global forerunner in tokenized securities.

"Polygon Labs is a leading global blockchain technology development company that is innovating throughout all aspects of Web3. Through technical collaboration with Polygon Labs, Mirae Asset Securities aims to establish global leadership in tokenized securities," he said.

The Mirae Asset Security Token Working Group, which also includes companies such as Linger Studio and Coin Plug, will operate independently from the Next Finance Initiative (NFI), another security token consortium of Mirae, Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom Co.

Last month, SK Telecom said it has teamed up with Polygon Labs to expand its Web3 ecosystem.

Web3 refers to an internet environment that uses decentralized technologies such as blockchain.

In Web3, users can own and manage their personal information and data and store them in individual online data storage sites instead of centralized servers.

Polygon Labs is a leader in this field, with its network hailed as the "internet of the blockchain sector" for its excellent performance and Ethereum compatibility.

Write to Eui-Myung Park at uimyung@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.