As debate continues in South Korea over regulating digital assets, financial firms are accelerating efforts to secure related infrastructure. Banks, securities firms and asset managers are moving beyond investment and cooperation with exchanges to widen ties with global blockchain foundations, real-world asset companies and token securities platforms. Industry participants are signing partnerships and making equity investments, while firms also examine stablecoin, tokenisation and distributed-ledger infrastructure as they prepare for competition after formal rules are set.

Investors in single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds tied to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are increasingly facing losses, as volatility in semiconductor shares widens after strong inflows on listing day. Brokerage data showed most investors in major products were in the red, in some cases nearly all. Individual net buying in two TIGER leveraged ETFs exceeded 3 trillion won in total. Regulators have launched an emergency review of market conditions and investor protection.