"OpenAsset is a company that keeps pace to support financial institutions as they move into the era of won-based stablecoins and other virtual assets. Our goal is to become a Blockchain technology firm and the top virtual asset financial company in Korea."
Chief Executive Kim Gyeong-eop of OpenAsset said the company will establish itself as a corporations that provides infrastructure for bank-issued won stablecoins in the next-generation digital finance market. Kim oversaw the Bank of Korea's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC·Central Bank Digital Currency) project at Kakao(035720). Convinced while handling CBDC work that the private stablecoin market would open, Kim left Kakao and founded OpenAsset in April 2023. The company has completed its Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) filing and is undergoing acceptance review by the financial authorities.
In its early stage, the company received more than 2 billion won in Series A investment from Hana Ventures, Korea Investment Partners, and Mashup Ventures. Last year, it received Series B investment from Dozn(462860), Hana Ventures, and IBK Capital, and began the stablecoin infrastructure business in earnest. OpenAsset performed verification roles from issuance to distribution of won stablecoins with major domestic banks, including KB Kookmin Bank, NH Nonghyup Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK)(024110), iM Bank, Busan Bank, Jeonbuk Bank, and KakaoBank(323410).
OpenAsset launched "OpenMint" and is preparing to launch the "DAGAON" virtual asset service. OpenMint supports the issuance of won stablecoins and manages the issued stablecoins. DAGAON provides infrastructure for financial institutions' virtual asset issuance, remittances, and payments. The plan is to expand step by step in line with the pace of institutionalizing won stablecoins.
After earning a bachelor's degree in electronic, electrical and computer engineering from Hanyang University, Kim obtained a master's degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Seoul National University. In 2010, Kim worked as a senior researcher in the home appliances and wireless division at Samsung Electronics(005930), then moved to Kakao in 2018. The following is a Q&A with Kim.
— You are focusing on stablecoin services.
"While carrying out the Bank of Korea's CBDC project, I came to deeply understand Korea's traditional financial system. This experience led naturally to collaboration with various financial companies. Based on the OpenMint won stablecoin issuance system, we conducted proofs of concept (PoC·Proof of Concept) with several financial institutions.
While verifying issuance, we learned that financial institutions are considering "how to store issued assets, move them, and serve customers." DAGAON is a virtual asset service prepared to address exactly that concern. When financial institutions contemplate virtual asset services, it provides functions such as storage, transfer, exchange, and brokerage with institution-level security and controls."
— What sets DAGAON apart?
"While many wallets and custody services in the market started from the "storage" of existing virtual assets, OpenAsset focused on stablecoins from the beginning. DAGAON has a structure that allows financial institutions to handle the storage, transfer, exchange, and brokerage of stablecoins all within OpenAsset's infrastructure without outsourcing, integrating everything and completing it internally.
We are continually advancing our control level to the standard of financial institutions. We have systems such as a whitelist (Whitelist·identified legal entities) that allows withdrawals only to pre-registered addresses, dual approval that separates the requester and the approver, real-time anti-money-laundering (AML·Anti-Money Laundering) functions, and a framework that stores more than 80% of assets in cold wallets (Cold Wallet) isolated from the internet."
— What is OpenAsset's competitive edge in stablecoin services?
"OpenAsset's experience overseeing the Bank of Korea's CBDC project is a major asset. In the process of advancing the OpenMint system, we also secured a patent for stablecoin issuance. We completed registration for an issuance system using a multisignature (Multisig) method. OpenAsset has not only tried issuance but also operated it. Together with several financial institutions, we repeatedly verified every step from issuance to storage, remittances, and payments. We take pride that OpenAsset is the only company in Korea that has directly built CBDC and stablecoins and has real experience from issuance to operation."
— What is the current stage of the stablecoin PoC?
"With multiple financial institutions, we have completed verification by technically testing every step from issuance of won stablecoins to storage, remittances, and payments multiple times. In line with the pace at which the Digital Asset Basic Act (phase two of virtual asset law) is being established, we are awaiting approval of our VASP filing and the commercialization of won stablecoins. Since verification is sufficiently complete, we expect the business to roll out in earnest alongside the framework."
— What are OpenAsset's future goals?
"Our goal is to become a company that keeps pace to support financial institutions as they move into the era of virtual assets. Starting with a business that provides infrastructure for stablecoin issuers, we plan to layer storage and custody on this infrastructure and expand step by step to overseas remittances, currency exchange, and payment hubs. In areas that are difficult for financial institutions to do directly, OpenAsset will establish itself as a virtual asset infrastructure corporations that helps financial institutions."