8 institutions contribute; key findings to be unveiled Thursday
Wavebridge said Tuesday it has published a white paper on the introduction of domestic digital asset spot ETFs. The white paper was jointly planned by Wavebridge and the Jito Foundation and written by eight institutions from South Korea and abroad.
The white paper draws on firsthand experience from institutions across different fields, covering product issuance, liquidity supply, index calculation, custody, staking operations and legal advisory services. Contributors include Meritz Securities, Hanwha Asset Management, Solana Company, FnGuide, Korea Digital Asset (KODA) and Kang Ryeon-ho, an attorney at law firm Sejong.
The white paper's key findings are set to be unveiled Thursday at "Bridge Seoul 2026," an event to be held in Yeouido. Wavebridge said the white paper covers the development of overseas ETFs and the conditions for domestic application, a product viability assessment and phased introduction roadmap from an asset manager's perspective, liquidity supply structure, price system design, custody infrastructure, staking operational standards, and legal issues and prerequisites.
Oh Jong-wook, chief executive of Wavebridge, said demand from domestic institutions for digital asset products is real and regulatory momentum is accelerating, but the capabilities needed to turn that demand into actual products have until now been scattered. "This white paper is the first step in bringing those pieces together so we are ready to launch products the moment a regulatory regime is in place," he said.
Marc Liew, head of Asia-Pacific at the Jito Foundation, said South Korea is opening its institutional digital asset market faster than anywhere else in the world. "What makes this meaningful is that institutions covering every area — from index calculation and custody to staking and regulatory advisory — participated in the analysis together," he said.
Meanwhile, Wavebridge was recently selected as a "core company" for the second half of 2026 by Invest Seoul, the Seoul Metropolitan Government's dedicated overseas investment attraction agency.
kyoung@heraldcorp.com
