[Special Stock] K-Auction Boosts Value with Low PBR Securities Firms' 370 Trillion STO... Token Securities Issuance Competition Rises

K-Auction is showing strong performance. This is interpreted as being influenced by news that the securities industry is competing in the token securities (STO) business, which is valued at 370 trillion won.

As of 1:19 PM on the 2nd, K-Auction is trading at 5,390 won, up 6.94% from the previous day.

According to the financial investment industry, last month Korea Investment & Securities signed an MOU for STO with Abitus Associates, the operator of the online art platform Artue. Additionally, IBK Investment & Securities and Koscom have also joined forces in the token securities business, and Hana Securities has signed MOUs with multiple fractional investment-related companies.

The reason securities firms are fiercely competing in the STO business is attributed to the growth potential of the related market. According to Hana Financial Management Research Institute, the market capitalization of the domestic token securities market is expected to grow from 34 trillion won this year to 367 trillion won by 2030, which is about 14.5% of GDP.

Researcher Ahn Young-jun of Hana Securities analyzed, “Considering that the current market capitalization of the domestic stock market (KOSPI and KOSDAQ) is around 2,500 trillion won, the token securities market accounts for only 1.4% compared to the stock market this year,” but added, “The growth rate of the token securities market will be much faster in the future.”

Meanwhile, K-Auction is entering the STO business through its subsidiary Together Art. Last month, it submitted a securities registration statement for art investment contract securities to the Financial Supervisory Service. The subscription for the art investment contract securities, based on Kusama Yayoi’s 2002 work 'Pumpkin' as the underlying asset, was conducted through the Together Art website from 10 AM on the 16th to 4 PM on the 23rd of last month. A total of 1,015 investors participated in this subscription, achieving a subscription rate of 95.37%.