South Korea's won-pegged stablecoin market is fracturing into at least six competing camps before a single token has been issued. On April 23, fintech operator Toss signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. to develop blockchain-based payment infrastructu...
"We will increase the usability of CBDC and deposit tokens." — Shin Hyun-song, Governor, Bank of Korea (inaugural address, April 21, 2026)
South Korea's won-pegged stablecoin market is fracturing into at least six competing camps before a single token has been issued. On April 23, fintech operator Toss signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. to develop blockchain-based payment infrastructure, including deposit tokens and stablecoins. Two days earlier, newly sworn-in Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song used his first policy address to promote a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and bank-issued deposit tokens — while omitting any mention of private stablecoins.
The result is a three-way regulatory collision — the Bank of Korea wants a CBDC-led architecture, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) favors a competitive licensing model that includes fintechs, and the National Assembly's Digital Asset Task Force opposes the central bank's proposed 51% bank-ownership rule for stablecoin issuers. Analysts at Seoulz estimate the domestic KRW stablecoin market could reach 20 trillion won (~$14.5 billion) within three years. The race to capture that market is now underway across banks, fintechs, and the central bank itself — all competing in the world's most cashless major economy.
The Korean won stablecoin landscape, as mapped by Seoulz and KoreaTechDesk reporting, now includes at least six distinct players or groups:
1. The Eight-Bank Consortium. Formed in mid-2025, the coalition includes KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, NongHyup, Industrial Bank of Korea, Suhyup, Citibank Korea, and Standard Chartered First Bank Korea. Their plan: a shared won-pegged stablecoin governed jointly.
2. The Hana-Led Breakaway. Hana Financial Group has signed separate MOUs with BNK Financial, iM Bank, and SC First Bank to develop a competing KRW stablecoin, effectively splitting the original bank consensus.
3. Toss (Viva Republica). The fintech giant — 30 million users, 1.96 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in 2024 revenue — filed trademarks for 24 won stablecoin names in June 2025, including "TOSSKRW." It is building a proprietary L1 blockchain mainnet, recruiting blockchain engineers since February 2026, and signed the Korea Mint partnership on April 23.
4. Kakao Group. KakaoPay (42 million registered users) and KakaoBank are developing a wallet-to-wallet (W2W) stablecoin system that would link KakaoPay, KakaoBank, and KakaoTalk into a unified payment layer.
5. Naver-Dunamu Alliance. Naver Financial and exchange operator Dunamu (parent of Upbit, Korea's largest crypto exchange) are building a blockchain-AI hybrid platform linking search, payments, and digital assets.
6. Bank of Korea (Project Hangang). The central bank is running its own CBDC and deposit-token pilot with nine commercial banks, aiming for large-scale real-world transactions in H2 2026.
This six-way fragmentation is occurring before the enabling legislation — the Digital Asset Basic Act — has passed. No won-backed stablecoin is yet in circulation.
Toss represents the most aggressive fintech entry. The company's blockchain strategy, disclosed incrementally since mid-2025, now encompasses:
Toss reported its first profitable year in fiscal 2024: 90.7 billion won (~$63 million) net profit on 1.96 trillion won revenue, a 43% year-over-year increase. The company is planning a U.S. IPO in Q2 2026 at a valuation above $10 billion, according to reporting by Biometric Update and ID Tech. Its FacePay biometric payments service has exceeded 2 million registered users since launching in September 2025 and is deployed across 240,000 retail locations.
The blockchain pivot is a direct extension of Toss's existing financial infrastructure. The company already operates payments, banking, securities brokerage, and insurance through a single app serving 30 million users — roughly 58% of South Korea's population. A won stablecoin would add a programmable money layer atop this stack.
The banking sector's stablecoin effort began with apparent unity in mid-2025 when eight commercial banks announced joint development. That consensus has since splintered.
Hana Financial Group has moved independently, signing sequential MOUs with BNK Financial, iM Financial, and SC First Bank. This breakaway consortium represents a bet that speed and flexibility matter more than collective scale.
Individual banks are also running their own experiments. According to KoreaTechDesk and Seoulz reporting:
These parallel experiments suggest that banks view won stablecoins not as a shared utility token but as a competitive product — each institution seeking its own distribution advantage.
Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song, sworn in on April 21, 2026, used his inaugural address to signal a clear preference: CBDC and deposit tokens first, stablecoins later — or possibly never.
Project Hangang Phase 2 launched on March 18, 2026, expanding from seven to nine participating banks with the addition of Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank. The pilot is structured as a two-layer system: a wholesale CBDC issued by the Bank of Korea, with commercial banks issuing deposit tokens fully convertible into it.
The pilot covers two use cases:
Shin also pledged 24-hour foreign exchange trading and an offshore won settlement system, suggesting the digital won strategy is part of a broader won internationalization effort.
The central bank's omission of stablecoins from the governor's address is significant. During his confirmation hearings on April 14, Shin had acknowledged a limited, competitive role for stablecoins. The shift in his inaugural speech — from acknowledging stablecoins to ignoring them — suggests the Bank of Korea may be positioning CBDC-linked deposit tokens as a substitute rather than a complement.
The Digital Asset Basic Act, South Korea's comprehensive crypto regulatory framework, has been stalled since late 2025 over a single question: who may issue won stablecoins.
The Bank of Korea has pushed for what Korean media calls the "51% rule" — requiring stablecoin issuers to be consortia with commercial banks holding at least 51% ownership. The central bank argues stablecoins at scale could interfere with monetary policy, capital flows, and financial stability.
The FSC has prepared an alternative draft without the 51% requirement. Under the FSC model, fintechs with at least 500 million won (~$364,000) in equity capital could qualify as stablecoin issuers alongside banks.
The National Assembly's Digital Asset Task Force, controlled by the Democratic Party of Korea, has sided with the FSC and against the 51% rule, arguing it would stifle competition and diverge from emerging global standards.
The legislation also contains provisions that affect all issuers regardless of ownership:
The bill's passage timeline is uncertain. What was originally expected in Q1 2026 has slipped repeatedly. The stalemate creates a paradox: six groups are building products for a market that does not yet have legal authorization to exist.
South Korea's intensity of digital payment adoption provides context for the scale of opportunity. According to IMARC Group data, the country's mobile payment market reached $57.8 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at 14.36% CAGR through 2034, reaching $193.5 billion. Over 90% of transactions in South Korea are already cashless.
The existing infrastructure is dominated by closed-loop systems: KakaoPay, Toss, Naver Pay, and bank-operated mobile apps. A won stablecoin would, in theory, create an interoperable layer that allows value to move between these walled gardens using a common settlement token.
Korea's crypto market adds further demand. South Korea consistently ranks among the top three nations by crypto trading volume per capita, and Upbit (operated by Dunamu, Naver's partner in the stablecoin race) processes more daily volume than many global exchanges. According to Tiger Research's 2026 Korea Crypto Market Guide, the market is characterized by high retail participation and exchange-dominated infrastructure.
The economic logic for a won stablecoin reduces to three use cases: domestic payments settlement (replacing closed-loop rails), cross-border remittances (Korea's remittance market is substantial given its diaspora and trade volumes), and crypto trading pairs (replacing USDT/USDC as the on-ramp for Korean traders).
South Korea is constructing what may become Asia's most contested stablecoin market — not because there is too little activity, but because there is too much, with too little coordination. Six competing groups are building products against an unfinished regulatory backdrop, while the central bank simultaneously develops its own substitute through Project Hangang.
The economic value question is straightforward: who captures the settlement layer in a $57.8 billion mobile payment market. The current fragmentation — two bank consortia, three fintech platforms, and a central bank CBDC — suggests the market will not consolidate around a single standard quickly. More likely is a period of overlapping pilots, regulatory arbitrage, and infrastructure duplication that increases costs before any efficiency gains materialize.
The Toss-Korea Mint MOU and Governor Shin's inaugural address, occurring within 48 hours of each other on April 21 and 23, crystallize the tension. Private fintechs are moving to build blockchain payment rails while the central bank signals it may prefer to make them redundant. The outcome depends on the Digital Asset Basic Act — legislation that remains stuck on the fundamental question of whether banks or fintechs will control Korea's next monetary layer. Until that question is answered, all six players are building on uncertain ground.