Author: Zen, PANews
Before his official inauguration, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung clearly proposed in his campaign manifesto to support innovative measures of local currency-pegged stablecoins to curb wealth outflows and enhance the competitiveness of the countrys digital financial ecosystem. After Lee Jae-myungs government came to power, the Korean cryptocurrency industry immediately began to move: not only did eight major commercial banks prepare to launch a joint project on the Korean won stablecoin, but traditional technology giants and Web3 companies also made plans to seize the initiative in the increasingly fierce regional and even global stablecoin competition.
At the same time, the National Assembly is reviewing the Basic Law on Digital Assets to provide a legal basis for private institutions to issue Korean won stablecoins, and financial regulators are also accelerating the construction of operating norms in line with international standards. It can be seen that the second half of 2025 to the first half of 2026 may be the window period for the explosive growth of the Korean stablecoin market. In this article, PANews systematically sorts out and deeply analyzes the main participants, business models and innovation trends in the Korean stablecoin market, focusing on several potential issuers.
Korean Banks Association
Since the introduction of stablecoins may have a significant impact on monetary policy and transaction settlement systems, the Bank of Korea has seen the role of stablecoins in innovation and promotion in the field of financial technology, but has always been concerned about whether they can be used as a substitute for legal tender. In mid-June, Lee Chang-yong, governor of the Bank of Korea, said that the central bank is working with relevant institutions to develop a regulatory framework for stablecoins to ensure their stability and practicality while preventing them from being used to circumvent foreign exchange controls. Lee Chang-yong subsequently expressed his cautious attitude towards the Korean won stablecoin.
Chang-yong Rhee, Governor of the Bank of Korea
Under this cautious policy orientation, the most competitive participants in the Korean won stablecoin track are non-bank institutions. According to Reuters, on June 24, Ryoo Sang-dai, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Korea, said at a press conference that stablecoins denominated in Korean won should be introduced gradually and should first be issued by strictly regulated commercial banks. After accumulating enough experience, it will be gradually expanded to the non-bank sector to prevent shocks to monetary policy and payment systems.
On June 25, the Korean media Economic Review reported that eight major banks in South Korea plan to set up a joint venture to issue Korean won stablecoins. The participating banks include KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, NH NongHyup Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Suhyup Bank, Citibank Korea and Standard Chartered Korea. In addition, the Open Blockchain and Decentralized Identifier Association (OBDIA) and the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearing Corporation (a non-profit organization responsible for Koreas interbank payment infrastructure, referred to as KFTC) will participate in coordination and cooperation.
It is reported that the project team is considering two stablecoin issuance models: one is the trust model, which first trusts customer funds separately and then issues stablecoins; the other is the deposit token model, which links stablecoins to bank deposits. At present, the above-mentioned banks are discussing the joint construction of infrastructure. After the legal system is improved, a joint venture may be established as early as the end of this year or early next year.
According to the disclosed information, among the eight banks mentioned above, KB Kookmin Bank, the largest retail bank in South Korea, is the institution that is most actively involved in the layout of stablecoins. It has taken the lead in initiating the process of obtaining trademark rights related to stablecoins. The trademarks to be applied for include the combination of KB and the Korean won symbol KRW, such as KBKRW, KRWKB, KBST and KRWST. This move by Kookmin Bank is the first time that a traditional Korean bank has officially entered the field of stablecoins. The bank has a network of more than 1,000 branches and a large personal customer base. Whether in terms of business scale or layout, it is the core leader of this joint venture.
Shinhan Bank is the leader of the Korean retail market along with KB Kookmin Bank, and has tried to connect with virtual assets many times in recent years. It first worked with Hedera in 2021 to conduct a pilot of the Korean won stablecoin to determine whether it is possible to issue and distribute stablecoins for financial use cases at lower fees and in a shorter completion time than the existing system, while also making transactions traceable. In 2022 , Shinhan Bank also issued virtual accounts that can trade virtual assets to some companies. In April of this year , the bank participated in a stablecoin-based overseas remittance demonstration experiment between South Korea and Japan-Project Pax, led by Japans Programat, South Koreas Fair Square Lab and the Korea Digital Asset Custodian (KDAC), which aims to use digital assets to build the next generation of global remittance and payment systems.
In addition, Woori Bank, NH Nonghyup Bank and others also have rich experience in international payments and have played important roles in CBDC testing, inter-bank RTGS and blockchain projects; corporate banks have been deeply involved in SME credit and trade financing for many years and can provide cost advantages for enterprise-level application scenarios; Standard Chartered and Citibank Korea branches rely on the international networks of their parent banks, and may provide overseas clearing and offshore liquidity support for stablecoins.
Kakao Pay and Kaia
As a leading company in South Koreas payment field, Kakao Pay is the most active among large manufacturers in the layout of Korean won stablecoin.
Kakao Pay was founded in 2014. Relying on the Kakao Talk instant messaging application, it exceeded 10 million users in just 20 months. In 2017, it received a strategic investment of US$200 million from Alibabas Ant Financial, establishing its leading position in the Korean mobile payment market. As of mid-2025, Kakao Pays penetration rate in online and offline QR code payment, P2P transfer and e-commerce settlement scenarios in Korea has exceeded 60%. In terms of market share and active user scale, its position in Korea is comparable to that of Alipay and WeChat Pay in China.
After Lee Jae-myung, who is pro-cryptocurrency, took office, the Kaia team quickly announced that it would join forces with super apps such as Kakao Pay and LINE NEXT to plan to launch a Korean won stablecoin. As soon as the news came out, Kakao Pays stock price soared by nearly 30%. On June 22, Kakao Pay officially launched its Korean won stablecoin business layout, intending to seize the first opportunity in the stablecoin market. According to the Korean media Seoul Economy, Kakao Pay submitted 18 stablecoin trademark applications in combination with KRW, K and P to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, such as KRWKP, KWRP, etc., covering virtual asset financial transactions, electronic transfers and intermediary services, indicating its high expectations for stablecoin business.
Kakao Pay will actively cooperate with the legislative process of the Digital Assets Basic Law in order to become one of the first compliant stablecoin issuers after the law is implemented. Kakao Pay will also be able to leverage its traditional business advantages and work closely with the ecological chains of parent companies such as Kakao Bank and Kakao T to achieve a deep integration of social, payment, and financial services, providing a massive application scenario for stablecoins.
Kaia is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 public chain formed by the merger of Klaytn (Kakao subsidiary Ground X) and Finschia (LINE subsidiary) in August 2024, aiming to connect Kakao Talk and LINE with a total of 250 million users. In early June 2025, Sam Seo, chairman of KaiaChain, made it clear on the social platform that he would fully promote the issuance of Korean won stablecoins on the Kaia mainnet, and said that the summer of stablecoins has just begun. Earlier, Kaia had launched local USDT and cooperated with Tether to introduce USD₮ into the Kaia ecosystem, laying the technical and ecological foundation for the subsequent KRW stablecoin.
Related reading: With the support of South Koreas policies, can Kaia public chain enter the Summer of Stablecoins?
Kaia is working with super apps such as Kakao Pay and LINE NEXT to plan stablecoin projects, aiming to achieve cross-chain and cross-platform circulation of on-chain + social + payment. With the ecological synergy of the underlying public chain and terminal payment, once the policy is released, its stablecoin project can be quickly launched to seize the market opportunity.
Danal
Danal, a long-established payment service provider in South Korea, is also a widely favored participant. It launched PayCoin (PCI) in 2019 and conducted early exploration in the field of virtual asset payments. PayCoin once had more than 1 million registered users in multiple offline and online merchants, but because the regulations were unclear at the time, the project was eventually suspended due to VASP (virtual asset service operator) registration obstacles.
As the South Korean government accelerates the legislative process of the Basic Law on Digital Assets and clearly supports the policy orientation of pegging local currencies to stablecoins, Danal has restarted its digital currency business. According to MK, Danal has submitted a number of patent applications for POS terminals supporting virtual asset payments and their operating methods to the Korean Patent Office in June 2025, aiming to provide underlying technical support for possible stablecoin payment scenarios in the future.
On the technical level, Danal has a natural advantage in the stablecoin business process with its POS terminal network and payment settlement system accumulated over the years. On the one hand, its POS terminal can directly identify and settle on-chain tokens, simplifying the users payment path; on the other hand, its backend system for settlement with merchants can seamlessly connect to off-chain reserve management, providing a prerequisite for compliance audits and reserve proofs.
Nexus
On the same day that Kakao Pay officially entered the stablecoin race, blockchain startup Nexus also expressed its desire to become the first issuer of a Korean won stablecoin.
According to ZDNet Korea, Nexus has issued a Korean won stablecoin called KRWx on BNB Chain and submitted a trademark registration application to the Korean Intellectual Property Office. In addition, they have also submitted trademark applications for legal currency stablecoins such as the US dollar (USDx), the Japanese yen (JPYx), and the euro (EURx).
Nexus CEO Jang Hyun-guk said that they chose to pre-release KRWx on BNB Chain in order to establish a first-mover advantage, and stated that they will continue to launch more fiat-pegged stablecoins, emphasizing that the reason for the existence of stablecoins lies in practicality and their opportunities in the globalized system of the digital economy.
Nexus CEO Jang Hyun-guk
In addition, gaming media G‑Ennews reported that Nexuss is preparing for the issuance of “KRWx” and other fiat stablecoins, and plans to set up a Hong Kong subsidiary, Nexus Stable HK, to leverage its advantages in Hong Kong’s laws and trading markets to advance the internationalization of stablecoins.
Other potential participants
Nexledger, launched by Samsung SDS, an IT solution and system integration subsidiary of Samsung Group, is one of the most mature enterprise-level private chain solutions in the Korean market, supporting multi-party signatures, cross-chain interoperability and high-performance throughput. Industry insiders believe that Nexledger already has the three core features of traceability + high reliability + auditability required for stablecoins. Once the internal or partner finalizes the issuance plan, the technical preparations are almost ready.
According to Chosun English, Samsung SDS has been listed as one of the possible infrastructure providers in the context of South Koreas upcoming policy of opening up stablecoins pegged to its local currency, and its corporate customers may issue or host stablecoins through Nexledger.
LGCNS, LGs IT solution and system integration subsidiary, is also considered a potential participant and beneficiary because of its well-developed underlying infrastructure. It was selected as the official contractor for the Bank of Koreas (BOK) wholesale CBDC/tokenized deposit system, responsible for the construction of an open blockchain platform, with a project budget of approximately 9.68 billion won, covering the period from the third quarter of 2024 to March 2025.
As a core supplier of wholesale CBDC and digital currency solutions, LGCNS has mastered the core capabilities of on-chain asset management such as coinage, clearing, auditing, and custody. With the advancement of the Basic Law on Digital Assets, private institutions will gradually be qualified to issue stablecoins, and LGCNS can occupy the role of infrastructure supplier through technology output.
