Kakao taps Circle to explore won stablecoin payment infrastructure
Kakao Group has signed an MOU with Circle to explore payment infrastructure for won-backed stablecoins in anticipation of South Korea’s upcoming crypto rules. Kakao, Kakao Pay, and Kakao Bank will work with Circle to connect its blockchain and global payment network to Kakao’s consumer and financial services. The companies plan to examine stablecoin payments, cross-border remittances, merchant settlement, and links between traditional finance and blockchain, plus possible tokenized financial services, but gave no product or launch timeline. South Korea is still shaping stablecoin legislation, with debates over issuer eligibility, reserves, redemption, and oversight. Banks and regulators disagree on who should be allowed to issue won-based stablecoins. Meanwhile, major Korean financial firms are already testing related technologies through blockchain remittance and merchant-payment pilots.
