The South Korean stablecoin market is booming: Financial institutions, technology companies, and blockchain enterprises are advancing together.

After taking office, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung vigorously promoted the innovative policy of "local currency pegged stablecoins" aimed at enhancing the international competitiveness of the country's digital financial ecosystem. With the release of policy dividends, South Korea's cryptocurrency industry quickly took action: major commercial banks joined forces to prepare for the Korean won stablecoin project, and traditional tech giants along with Web3 companies also rushed to layout strategies, striving to seize the initiative in the increasingly fierce competition of stablecoins both regionally and globally.

At the same time, Congress is reviewing the "Basic Law on Digital Assets" to provide a legal basis for private institutions to issue Korean won stablecoins, and regulatory authorities are also accelerating the establishment of operating norms in line with international standards. The second half of 2025 to the first half of 2026 is likely to become a key period for the rapid growth of the Korean stablecoin market. This article systematically organizes and deeply analyzes the main participants, business models, and innovation trends in the Korean stablecoin market, with a focus on several major potential issuers.

Korea Bank Alliance

The Bank of Korea adopts a cautious attitude towards stablecoins, believing that they may affect monetary policy and the transaction settlement system. Bank Governor Lee Chang-yong stated that they are working with relevant institutions to develop a regulatory framework to ensure the stability and usability of stablecoins, while also preventing them from being used to evade foreign exchange controls.

In this context, banking institutions have become the most competitive participants in the Korean won stablecoin sector. It has been reported that eight major banks plan to establish a joint venture to issue Korean won stablecoins, including National Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, Nonghyup Bank, Korea Corporate Bank, Suhyup Bank, Citibank Korea, and Standard Chartered Bank Korea. The Open Blockchain and Decentralized Identifier Association and the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearing Institute will participate in coordinating cooperation.

The project team is considering two issuance models: one is the trust model, where customer funds are first individually entrusted before issuing stablecoins; the second is the deposit token model, which links stablecoins to bank deposits. Banks are discussing the joint construction of infrastructure, and a joint venture may be established as early as the end of this year or early next year.

KB Financial Group, as the largest retail bank in South Korea, is the most proactive in the stablecoin layout. The bank has initiated the application process for related trademark rights, intending to apply for trademarks that include the combination of "KB" and the Korean won symbol "KRW". This marks the first formal entry of a traditional South Korean bank into the stablecoin sector. KB Financial Group has a vast branch network and customer base, which will play a core role in this joint venture project.

Shinhan Bank, as another leading player in the retail market, has made several attempts to connect with virtual assets in recent years. The bank has previously collaborated with Hedera to pilot a Korean won stablecoin and participated in the "Project Pax," a demonstration experiment for overseas remittances between Korea and Japan based on stablecoins.

Other participating banks such as Woori Bank, NH Nonghyup Bank, etc., have accumulated rich experience in CBDC testing, interbank real-time gross settlement systems, and Blockchain projects. Korea's Industrial Bank has been deeply involved in SME lending and trade financing for many years, providing cost advantages for enterprise-level application scenarios. Standard Chartered and Citibank's Korea branches can leverage their parent banks' international networks to provide overseas clearing and offshore liquidity support for stablecoins.

Kakao Pay and Kaia

Kakao Pay is a leading enterprise in the payment sector of South Korea, showing the most active performance in the deployment of the Korean won stablecoin. The company was established in 2014 and rapidly developed relying on the Kakao Talk instant messaging application, receiving a strategic investment of 200 million USD from Alibaba's Ant Financial. By mid-2025, Kakao Pay's penetration rate in online and offline QR code payments, P2P transfers, and e-commerce settlement scenarios in South Korea has surpassed 60%, comparable to China's Alipay and WeChat Pay.

On June 22, Kakao Pay officially launched its business layout for the Korean won stablecoin, submitting 18 trademark applications for the "KRW" "K" "P" combination to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, covering the fields of virtual asset financial transactions, electronic transfers, and intermediary services. Kakao Pay will actively cooperate with the legislative process of the "Digital Asset Basic Law" to strive to become one of the first compliant stablecoin issuers. The company can also leverage its traditional business advantages to collaborate with its parent company's ecosystem, including Kakao Bank and Kakao T, achieving deep integration of social, payment, and financial services, providing numerous application scenarios for the stablecoin.

Kaia is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 public chain formed by the merger of Klaytn and Finschia, aiming to connect a total of 250 million users from Kakao Talk and LINE. Sam Seo, the chairman of KaiaChain, stated that they will "fully promote the issuance of the Korean won stablecoin" on the Kaia mainnet. Kaia has launched local USDT and collaborated with Tether to introduce USD₮, laying the technical and ecological foundation for subsequent KRW stablecoin.

Kaia plans a stablecoin project in collaboration with super applications such as Kakao Pay and LINE NEXT, aiming to achieve an integrated cross-chain and cross-platform circulation of "on-chain + social + payment". With the ecological synergy of the underlying public blockchain and terminal payment, once policies are relaxed, its stablecoin project can be launched quickly to seize market opportunities.

Danal

The established payment service provider Danal is also widely regarded positively. The company launched PayCoin (PCI) in 2019, conducting early exploration in the virtual asset payment field, but suspended operations due to unclear regulations. As the South Korean government accelerates the legislative process of the "Digital Asset Basic Law" and explicitly supports local currency-pegged stablecoins, Danal has once again restarted its digital currency business.

Danal has submitted multiple patent applications to the Korean Patent Office for "POS terminals that support virtual asset payments and their operational methods," providing technical support for potential stablecoin payment scenarios in the future. The company has a natural advantage in the stablecoin business process due to its years of accumulated POS terminal network and payment clearing system. Its POS terminals can directly identify and settle on-chain tokens, simplifying the user payment path; the backend system can seamlessly connect with off-chain reserve management, providing a basis for compliance auditing and reserve proof.

Nexus

The blockchain startup Nexus has also expressed a desire to become the first issuer of a Korean won stablecoin. The company has issued a Korean won stablecoin named KRWx on the BNB Chain and has submitted a trademark registration application to the Korean Patent Office. In addition, they have also applied for trademarks for fiat stablecoins such as the US dollar, Japanese yen, and euro.

Nexus CEO Jang Hyun Guk stated that choosing to pre-launch KRWx on the BNB Chain is to establish a first-mover advantage and emphasized the opportunities for stablecoins in the globalization of the digital economy. The company also plans to establish a Hong Kong subsidiary, Nexus Stable HK, to leverage the advantages of Hong Kong's laws and trading markets to promote the internationalization of stablecoins.

Other Potential Participants

Samsung SDS's Nexledger is a mature enterprise-level private blockchain solution in the Korean market, supporting multi-signature, cross-chain interoperability, and high-performance throughput. The industry believes that Nexledger has the core characteristics required for stablecoins, and once the issuance plan is determined, the technical aspects are basically ready. Samsung SDS is seen as a potential "infrastructure provider," and its enterprise clients may issue or host stablecoins through Nexledger.

LG CNS, as the official contractor for the Korean Central Bank's wholesale CBDC/tokenized deposit system, is responsible for the construction of an open blockchain platform. The company possesses core capabilities in on-chain asset management such as minting, clearing, auditing, and custody. With the advancement of the "Digital Asset Basic Law," LG CNS can occupy the role of infrastructure provider through technology output.