Kasa Korea

Kasa Korea is a South Korean property technology company that built the country's first real estate fractional investment platform, allowing retail investors to buy and trade securitized slices of commercial buildings in the form of digital asset-backed securities (DABS). Buildings are owned and managed by real estate trust companies, with beneficiary certificates issued and traded on Kasa's mobile application. Investors holding the certificates receive distributions derived from lease income, paid quarterly, and can realize gains when an underlying property is sold.

The Korean platform was designated an innovative financial service by the Financial Services Commission in 2019 and opened for business in September 2020 after roughly a year of licensing work, launching Korea's first property beneficiary certificate exchange. The first asset acquired was in Seoul's Gangnam district; by March 2022 four commercial buildings were trading on the platform. The group was structured under a Singapore-headquartered holding company with subsidiaries in Korea and Singapore and an affiliate in Thailand licensed by the Thai SEC. Management described plans to extend fractionalization beyond real estate into asset classes such as art, collectables, aircraft, ships and infrastructure, subject to further regulatory approvals.

Daishin Securities acquired Kasa Korea in 2023 and held a 96.38% stake as of the end of March 2026. Following sustained losses and delays in the institutionalization of token securities, the company suspended new public offerings, disposed of its remaining properties and entered closure proceedings in 2026.

Founding story

Founder and CEO Yea Chang-whan (Changwhan Yea), a 2014 Stanford graduate, said the concept grew out of observing residential property prices around Palo Alto that were unaffordable even to well-paid technology workers. His first venture after returning to Seoul was a crowdfunding platform modeled on Kickstarter for Asia, an experience he applied to making real estate ownership accessible to smaller investors. Kasa was his second startup.

Business model

Kasa Korea securitizes individual commercial buildings held by real estate trust companies into digital asset-backed securities and distributes them to investors through its own mobile platform, which also operates as a secondary exchange for the certificates. Investors receive quarterly dividend payments funded by rental income and can realize proceeds when a building is sold. Products were issued under Korea's Asset-Backed Securitization Act, requiring the operator to hold 5% of the outstanding balance of the securitized securities issued.

Revenue derives from issuing and distributing digital asset-backed securities on properties and operating the trading platform on which those certificates are bought and sold.

Traction

Sold out three digital ABS offerings on Seoul buildings between December 2020 and September 2021, with a fourth planned; four commercial buildings were trading on the platform as of March 2022, and the Korean service reported 150,000 registered users. Financially, the company posted an operating loss of about 5.7 billion won and a net loss of about 5.8 billion won in 2024, and an operating loss of about 5.8 billion won with a net loss of about 6 billion won in 2025.

Latest developments

As of June 2026 Kasa Korea had halted new business, completed disposals of the Bukchon Wolhajae property in March 2026 and the Grayin Boundary Building in April 2026, and was holding a sale vote on the Sangam 235 Building, its last remaining asset, while entering liquidation. Daishin Securities cited a contracting STO market and licenses that had not been issued.