As interest grows in the token securities (STO) market, which allows buying and selling real assets such as real estate, artworks, and music copyright (IP) in small amounts, ITCEN's stock price has been on the rise for consecutive days. The ITCEN Group is promoting a collateralized token project based on a public blockchain secured by physical gold. Through its subsidiary Korea Gold Exchange Digital Asset, the group has actively entered the STO business via gold trading. Gold is expected to establish itself as a differentiated STO trading target due to its status as a safe asset and ease of trading.
At 10:17 a.m. on the 8th, ITCEN was trading at 6,190 KRW, up 11.53% from the previous day.
During the session, it rose to 6,420 KRW, setting a 52-week high.
ITCEN, as the STO platform operator for Hana Bank and Hana Securities, has applied for designation as an STO regulatory sandbox based on real trust beneficiary certificates for gold, raw materials, and other physical assets. Its subsidiary, 'Sengold,' is a digital platform service launched in March 2020 that allows fractional investment in expensive precious metals in units of 1/100g. Since its launch, it has continued to grow, recording 1 million cumulative users and 800 billion KRW in cumulative transaction volume.
KB Securities researcher Lim Sang-guk analyzed, "ITCEN is expected to rapidly expand its STO business capabilities related to issuing non-monetary movable property trust beneficiary certificates based on physical raw materials such as gold, silver, palladium, copper, and nickel, leveraging its proprietary blockchain technology."
He added, "As a digital platform operator for gold trading and distribution, ITCEN's excellent references position it well. If the domestic STO business materializes, it is expected to highlight its growth value as Korea's first STO platform operator related to gold and raw materials."
Last month, the ITCEN Group also participated in the public offering for the establishment and operation of the Busan Digital Asset Exchange. ITCEN operates a physical gold (Gold) trading platform through the Korea Gold Exchange. As of the third quarter cumulative basis this year, approximately 13.3 tons of gold have been traded and distributed.
In a recent interview with a media outlet, Kang Jin-mo, chairman of the ITCEN Group, stated, "We are preparing a digital asset trading platform to enable more dynamic trading by liquidating precious metals that have been stored deep inside homes," adding, "This is the starting point toward 'Crypto Bank' (a virtual asset specialized bank), one of the group's future business items."
He continued, "Ultimately, through the Crypto Bank, purchases of products and services, savings of surplus funds, leisure activities through games and sports, and gifts made for various reasons and purposes can be linked to investments." He also emphasized, "The ITCEN Group plans to grow into a representative service platform of the Web 3.0 era that creates an environment where capitalism based on individual ownership becomes more capitalistic while enabling all assets, including personal data, to be traded without risk of tampering."
ITCEN is promoting the STO business not only domestically but also overseas. In June, it signed a business agreement to promote the STO business with Saudi real estate companies AI Sharif Group Holding and Imperial Holding LLC, marking the first such agreement in Korea. These companies, engaged in gas, electricity, mining, and real estate businesses based in Saudi Arabia, reached out to ITCEN first for tokenization of their assets and infrastructure.
ITCEN plans to support product sourcing for tokenization of Saudi real estate and real estate development projects and will be responsible for issuing token securities and domestic distribution. It will also form an STO consortium within Saudi Arabia and launch a pilot project. The fact that the Dubai gold market is famous and that there is high interest in K-culture in Saudi Arabia are additional points that can generate synergy.
According to the ITCEN Group, AI Sharif Group Holding is one of the key partners of Saudi Arabia's national oil company Aramco. Through multiple subsidiaries, it is engaged in real estate development, construction, infrastructure building, engineering, and power generation businesses. Imperial Holding is also a specialized company in overseas investment attraction and export consulting, mainly active in the Middle East and North Africa. AI Sharif Group Holding and Imperial Holding are collaborating with multiple domestic companies through MOUs for projects linked to the NEOM City project, which aims to create a futuristic industrial, residential, and tourism special zone on approximately 26,500 km² of land in Tabuk Province, northwest Saudi Arabia.
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