Professor Kang observed that demand for capital raising through token offerings and crowdfunding is growing rapidly. He framed the core issue as a question of institutional design: how can illiquid assets — historically difficult to trade in conventional financial markets — be systematically securitized and made liquid? He characterized this as a fundamental paradigm shift from asset-backed securities to cash-flow-backed securities.
Professor Kang highlighted the particular valuation challenges posed by intangible assets and intellectual property, as well as unconventional asset classes such as artworks, digital content, and even beef and wine. Building on this, he argued that precisely because security tokens are cash-flow-backed instruments, they carry inherent valuation distortion risks — and that disclosure requirements related to valuation should therefore be strengthened, not relaxed. He also noted that liability allocation remains closely tied to the burden of proof, making a conservative approach still warranted in certain respects.
On investor protection, Professor Kang examined four principal mechanisms: (1) trust arrangements, (2) bankruptcy remoteness, (3) reserve fund establishment, and (4) “skin-in-the-game” requirements — discussing the merits and limitations of each. He argued that the critical design objective is not de facto immunity for issuers and platforms, but rather the construction of an endurable risk-sharing framework. Ultimately, he concluded, the question reduces to how to secure investor confidence as a public good.
Professor Sang-Yop Kang holds a J.S.D. from Columbia Law School and has been teaching and conducting research at Peking University School of Transnational Law (STL) since 2011. His scholarly interests span corporate governance, corporate law (general theory; U.S.; Korea; China), securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial market regulation, banking policy and regulation, law and economics, law and finance, law and politics, and executive compensation. He also pursues research on Chinese economic policy, Chinese corporate governance, and East Asian economies and legal systems more broadly. Among his current research focuses are startups and venture capital, corporate groups, institutional investors, hedge funds and private equity funds, shareholder activism and institutional stewardship, ESG (environmental, social, and governance), the digital economy (including the metaverse, cryptocurrencies, and central bank digital currencies), platform businesses, and fintech.
Professor Kang is a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) — a leading international academic international academic organization at the intersection of law, finance, and economics in the field of corporate governance. As of April 2026, he is one of two ECGI Research Members based in the Chinese Mainland across all disciplines. Professor Kang is a licensed U.S. attorney, as well as a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) charterholder and FRM (Financial Risk Manager) charterholder. He serves as Co-Director of the Forum of Markets and Regulation, and as an arbitrator (domestic and international) at the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB), as well as an arbitrator at the Shenzhen International Arbitration Institute (SCIA). He is also the representative arbitrator of Korea at the SCIA.
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