The Korea Exchange (KRX), South Korea’s sole securities exchange operator, has launched a new service in which equity shares of startup companies can be traded on the open market.

Called the Korea Startup Market (KSM), the service is being provided in partnership with Blocko, a Korean blockchain startup that has produced a blockchain-as-a-service platform called Coinstack.

The Coinstack platform will provide document and authentication services for the KSM by checking against client references that have already been provided to the system by Korean banks like JB Bank, KISA, Lottecard, Paygate and others.

As CoinDesk previously reported, senior figures in Korea Exchange's planning team have been researching blockchain initiatives since 2015, convening a task force to give strategic guidance on how the technology could be used. But it is only now that the results are being released as part of the service KRX offers to traders.

Won-Beom Kim, Blocko CEO, said in statements that service marks the "first example" of how blockchain could be used in the domestic over-the-counter stock market as envisioned by KRX.

He added that Blocko is now striving to showcase how its blockchain offering could be applied to more industries, including bonds and promissory notes.

Korea image via Shutterstock