MSCI South Korea ETF

• A blockchain token designed to track the price of iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (NYSE Arca: EWY), an exchange-traded fund.

• It is not a fund unit. Holding the token does not make you a shareholder of the fund and confers no rights against the fund or its manager.

• It offers fractional, round-the-clock price exposure without a foreign brokerage account.

• Issuer: BlackRock (iShares)

• Launched: May 2000

• Index: MSCI Korea 25/50

• Listed on: NYSE Arca (EWY)

• Category: Single-country equity fund

• EWY tracks an index of large and mid-capitalisation South Korean equities.

• It is weighted heavily towards technology and memory semiconductor manufacturers.

• It carries currency risk against the Korean won in addition to equity risk.

• The fund holds large and mid-cap South Korean stocks.

• Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are the largest holdings.

• Other sectors include financials, autos and batteries.

• You get price exposure to the underlying instrument.

• You do not get shareholder voting rights.

• Dividend or distribution treatment depends on the issuer's structure and is often not passed through.

• You take on issuer and custodian risk in addition to the price risk of the underlying.

Pros:

• It is liquid and widely traded.

• It gives broad Korean market exposure.

• It includes Korea's memory leaders.

Cons:

• It is concentrated in two companies.

• It carries won currency risk.

• It is exposed to regional geopolitics.

• Counterparty risk: if the issuer or custodian fails, the backing may not be recoverable.

• Tracking risk: the token price can diverge from the underlying, particularly outside US market hours when the underlying does not trade.

• Liquidity risk: on-chain liquidity is thinner than the underlying market, so spreads can widen sharply.

• Regulatory risk: India does not yet have a settled framework for tokenised equities, and tax treatment remains unclear.

• Price risk specific to the underlying instrument.