Field Notes
Issuer concentration: a practical cap for corporate desks
How Seoul-based finance teams we work with set issuer caps without pretending the choice is purely mathematical.
Issuer caps are policy choices dressed as percentages. A desk that settles regularly with one banking corridor may accept higher concentration in a single USD-pegged token if redemption paths are documented; another desk with diverse suppliers may prefer a lower cap even when liquidity looks ample.
In our capital allocation reviews we ask stakeholders to name the failure they fear: delayed redemption, frozen venue access, or reputational association. Different fears produce different caps. Writing the fear next to the percentage keeps later debates honest.
A mild pattern we see in Jung-gu sessions: teams arrive wanting a 30% cap, leave with 40–45% on the largest issuer, and add a hard rule that no second issuer may exceed the remainder without a board note. The numbers matter less than the recorded rationale.