January 30, 2026
By Our Correspondent
South Korea’s cryptocurrency industry has acquired an unmistakably establishment sheen. Yoon Do-yeon, the son-in-law of Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, has launched Hedron, a specialist virtual-asset investment firm that seeks to combine Korea’s corporate know-how with blockchain finance. First reported by The Seoul Economic Daily, the move signals a cautious but consequential convergence between the country’s industrial elite and its fast-maturing digital-asset sector.
The timing is deliberate. Institutional interest in cryptocurrencies has risen sharply since South Korea’s Financial Services Commission clarified the regulatory framework governing digital assets. What was once a retail-driven frenzy is beginning to acquire the trappings of a serious asset class.
Mr Yoon brings technical credibility to the venture. As former chief executive of Moreh, a firm specialising in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, he approaches crypto less as a speculative playground than as an extension of advanced computing. Hedron reflects this stance. Its operations are based in South Korea, close to the country’s deep pool of engineering talent, while the firm is incorporated in Singapore, where regulators have been more accommodating towards digital-asset businesses.
The firm’s leadership underscores this hybrid ambition. Kim Han-bit, formerly chief investment officer at Uprise, one of Korea’s earliest institutional crypto investors, managed portfolios through the boom of 2021 and the slump that followed. Jeong Min-seong, head of development, brings software-engineering experience forged in Korea’s intensely competitive technology sector. Together they exemplify what industry insiders describe as a “second generation” of crypto managers: fluent in both conventional finance and blockchain infrastructure.
Hedron’s technological orientation may prove its differentiator. Semiconductors underpin transaction processing and mining hardware, while artificial intelligence offers increasingly sophisticated tools for risk management and market analysis. Rather than chasing volatile tokens, the firm is expected to focus on infrastructure and enabling technologies. According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, technology-focused crypto funds have outperformed broader digital-asset portfolios by 18–22% a year since 2022.
Regulation, long a brake on institutional participation, is becoming more predictable. The Virtual Asset User Protection Act, effective from July 2023, clarified rules for institutional investors. In December 2024 the Financial Services Commission further eased constraints by allowing certain trust companies to offer bitcoin custody services. Market participants now speak of the most hospitable institutional environment since Korea’s first crypto boom in 2017.
The contrast with retail enthusiasm remains stark. South Korea boasts one of the world’s most active retail crypto markets, where trading volumes frequently rival those of equities. Yet conservative corporate culture and regulatory ambiguity kept large investors at bay. Hedron’s arrival—backed by ties to SK Group, whose interests span semiconductors, energy and telecommunications—suggests that this imbalance may finally be shifting.
If so, Korea’s crypto market may be entering a less feverish, but more durable, phase.
