▲ Matthew Dawson, the co-founder of Ethereum Institutional, speaks during an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency in Seoul on Sept. 7, 2026. (Yonhap)
▲ The price of the ethereum cryptocurrency is displayed on a screen inside the Bithumb building in southern Seoul, in this file photo taken Nov. 5, 2025. (Yonhap)

By Kang Jae-eun

SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- Ethereum Institutional welcomes South Korea's latest push to integrate tokenized security offerings (STOs) into the formal capital market framework and is willing to support institutions planning to adopt its network, the organization's co-founder said.

Matthew Dawson, the co-founder of the nonprofit organization, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency in Seoul, which came on the sidelines of his first visit to the country.

"I can't think of a better time with regulatory clarity coming to meet Korean institutions, as they look to define their digital asset strategy," he said during the interview held Monday.

Ethereum Institutional is an independent organization that supports institutions seeking to launch assets on the ethereum ecosystem -- the second-largest blockchain network in the world after bitcoin.

Dawson's comment comes after South Korea's financial services commission (FSC) unveiled a three-step road map Friday to expand STOs beyond fractional investment products into conventional securities, including stocks, bonds and funds.

The first stage will start in early February, when related legislation takes effect, with the tokenization of money market funds (MMF) and bonds for institutions.

The second phase calls for the tokenization of publicly offered securities, such as bonds, stocks and funds, while the third step aims to establish an on-chain payment infrastructure linking stablecoins.

"As the FSC road map unfolds and we see institutions actually deploying those assets ... we will be supporting them in whatever way they need," Dawson said, noting tokenized MMFs from major U.S. institutions, including BlackRock, J.P. Morgan and Fidelity, already operate on the ethereum network.

In South Korea, domestic virtual asset exchange operator Upbit hosts a stablecoin payment system on the ethereum layer-2 blockchain called GIWA.

Dawson described South Korea as a "powerhouse" in both finance and technology, saying its strong developer community, as well as its capacity to build both traditional financial institutions as well as fintech and neo-banks, make it an important country for the ethereum ecosystem.

The co-founder is seeking to meet with several financial institutions here, including major brokerages, asset managers and banks, during the trip.

The organization also plans to scale up, actively hiring technical and business consulting roles across Asia, including South Korea, to bring more capacity to support institutions directly, Dawson added.

When asked about Ethereum Institutional's long-term goals in South Korea, Dawson said it plans to focus on the network's actual deployment, to stay committed to ethereum's "unique" identity as global infrastructure for everyone to use.

"I saw ... in the news that Korea is actively working to make AI accessible to everyone and to have less dependency on U.S. and Chinese models," he said, pointing to a project to develop publicly accessible artificial intelligence services led by South Korea's science ministry.

"If we take that framing and consider that from a blockchain perspective, ethereum is the most neutral blockchain, which gives confidence to Korean institutions, regulators and governments that they can operate globally without the threat of a foreign nation taking advantage or control of this."

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