Shinhan Financial Group Chairman and CEO Jin Ok-dong has met with Digital Asset Co-Founder and CEO Yuval Rooz and Canton Foundation President Viv Diwakar at the group's headquarters in Seoul, signalling a significant deepening of Shinhan's engagement with Canton Network across banking, securities, and asset management.
The meeting focused on expanding collaboration in tokenised finance and digital asset infrastructure, including the tokenisation of financial products and connections between Korean and global financial markets. Discussions covered potential cooperation models linking Shinhan Bank's payment and settlement infrastructure with Shinhan Securities' tokenised asset distribution capabilities and Shinhan Asset Management's real-world asset tokenisation business.
Shinhan Financial has built its Canton relationship steadily throughout 2026. In June, the group signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canton Foundation to participate in network governance. In July, Shinhan Securities and Shinhan Venture Investment made strategic equity investments in Digital Asset as part of the firm's $365 million funding round. This month, Shinhan Asset Management was approved as a Canton Super Validator, becoming the first Korean financial company to take on that role, giving it a direct part in the network's governance and operations.
The conversation in Seoul extended beyond individual affiliate activities. The group discussed how Canton Network could improve global investors' access to Korean financial products by connecting domestic financial markets with overseas institutions and tokenised assets. Technology verification in line with Korea's approaching security token offering framework was also on the agenda.
"Tokenization is spreading as a new financial infrastructure in global markets, and our cooperation with Digital Asset and the Canton Foundation provides an important foundation for Shinhan Financial to proactively respond to changes in the future financial environment," said Jin Ok-dong. "We will responsibly prepare to expand connections with global digital asset infrastructure in line with regulatory developments and build a service foundation that customers can use safely and conveniently."
Canton Network counts Goldman Sachs, HSBC, BNP Paribas, and DTCC among its institutional participants. For Shinhan, the group-level meeting marks a shift from individual affiliate agreements to a coordinated strategy across its banking, securities, and asset management units.
