Viva Republica, the operator of South Korea's largest fintech super-app Toss, is building a proprietary blockchain network and native cryptocurrency to underpin its payments, banking, and securities ecosystem. The company disclosed the initiative at the 2026 Seoul Blockchain Meetup in March and h...
"Toss wants to try both distributing and issuing stablecoins... because to do distribution well, the issuance protocol and infrastructure need to coexist alongside it." — Seo Chang-whoon, Executive Director, Viva Republica
Viva Republica, the operator of South Korea's largest fintech super-app Toss, is building a proprietary blockchain network and native cryptocurrency to underpin its payments, banking, and securities ecosystem. The company disclosed the initiative at the 2026 Seoul Blockchain Meetup in March and has since filed 24 Korean won stablecoin trademarks, established a blockchain engineering division, and begun active recruitment for wallet, node, and smart contract roles. No launch date has been set; the architecture decision between a Layer 1 mainnet and a Layer 2 scaling solution remains contingent on the passage of South Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act.
The timing is significant. Toss is simultaneously preparing a Q2 2026 U.S. initial public offering targeting a valuation above $10 billion — potentially the largest U.S. listing by a South Korean company since Coupang's $4.6 billion debut in 2021. The blockchain strategy, branded internally as "Money 3.0," positions Toss to embed programmable money directly into a platform that already serves over 24 million monthly active users across 290+ financial services. Whether regulators allow fintechs to issue stablecoins — or restrict issuance to bank-led consortia — will determine the commercial viability of the entire initiative.
Toss, operated by Viva Republica and founded in 2014, has grown from a mobile wire-transfer tool into South Korea's dominant financial super-app. Key metrics as of late 2025:
| Metric | Figure | |--------|--------| | Registered users | 30+ million | | Monthly active users | ~24 million | | Financial services offered | 290+ | | 2025 Revenue | ~$1.8 billion (up 38% YoY) | | 2025 Operating profit | ~$251 million (up 270% YoY) | | 2025 Net profit | ~$151 million (up 847% YoY) | | FacePay biometric users | 1 million | | FacePay merchant locations | 240,000 | | Payment terminal target | 500,000 by end of 2026 |
The company turned its first-ever annual profit in its most recent fiscal year. Revenue reached 1.96 trillion won (~$1.4 billion) in a prior reporting period, with the figure climbing to approximately $1.8 billion for full-year 2025. The platform covers peer-to-peer transfers, banking, securities trading, insurance, credit scoring, and offline merchant payments through its Toss Place terminal network.
The user base — 24 million MAU in a country of ~52 million — represents roughly 46% of South Korea's total population. That installed base is the core asset underpinning the blockchain strategy.
At the 2026 Seoul Blockchain Meetup in March, Corporate Development Director Seo Chang-whoon outlined Toss's "Money 3.0" vision. The framework defines five properties for programmable money: universal, programmable, verifiable, composable, and seamless.
According to Seo, the objective is to "complete a borderless financial super app by redesigning money itself — removing boundaries across borders, products, time and entities" by 2026. The framework positions stablecoins and AI as co-dependent infrastructure layers, where AI agents conduct financial activities using programmable money with conditions embedded directly into smart contracts.
Toss demonstrated a proof of concept at the event: the company's SohoScore small-business credit model was combined with blockchain-based smart contracts. The system automates credit score updates, loan execution, and interest rate adjustments within a single contract — a concrete example of conditional financial products that do not exist in traditional payment rails.
The Money 3.0 framework is not a product roadmap. It is a strategic positioning document. The practical question is whether Toss can build the infrastructure to deliver on it before competitors or regulators close the window.
Toss has not finalized its blockchain architecture. According to reporting from Blockmedia on April 6, 2026, internal teams are evaluating two paths:
Layer 1 (standalone mainnet): Full control over transaction fees, governance, consensus mechanism, and validator economics. Higher development cost and time-to-market. Offers maximum sovereignty over the network's economic model.
Layer 2 (scaling solution on an existing chain): Faster deployment, lower upfront cost, inherited security from the base layer. Reduced control over fee structures and network governance.
The decision hinges on regulatory clarity. If South Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act permits fintech-led stablecoin issuance, a Layer 1 approach would give Toss end-to-end control of the economic stack — from stablecoin minting to transaction settlement. If the law restricts issuance to bank-majority entities, an L2 approach with lighter capital requirements may be more practical.
The company has been recruiting blockchain engineers since February 2026, according to job postings cited by multiple outlets. Roles span wallet systems, API and transaction processing, node operations, cryptographic signing, and financial compliance — consistent with early-stage infrastructure buildout rather than imminent launch.
A Web3 wallet is being developed for integration directly into the existing Toss app, requiring no separate download. The wallet would support virtual asset storage, transfers, payments, and tokenized securities management. For a platform that already processes peer-to-peer transfers, adding on-chain wallet functionality represents an extension of existing UX rather than a net-new product.
In June 2025, a Stablecoin Task Force led by Chief Business Officer Kyuha Kim filed 24 trademark applications for Korean won-denominated stablecoin names, including "TOSSKRW." The volume of filings — 24 separate names — suggests the company is securing broad intellectual property coverage across potential product lines, not committing to a single brand.
The strategic logic is straightforward. Toss already operates banking, securities, and payments infrastructure. It holds a MyData license, electronic authentication capabilities, and merchant acquiring relationships through Toss Place. A KRW-pegged stablecoin issued through Toss would close the loop: issuance, distribution, custody, and point-of-sale acceptance within a single platform.
The plan to deploy over 700,000 Toss Place terminals by 2027 adds an offline dimension. If stablecoins clear regulatory hurdles, Toss could offer merchants a settlement option that bypasses traditional card network rails — reducing fees while maintaining compliance through its own infrastructure.
However, there is a material regulatory risk. The Bank of Korea has advocated for a rule requiring stablecoin issuers to maintain 51% bank ownership. If enacted, this would effectively bar Toss from independent stablecoin issuance and force it into a consortium model with traditional banks.
South Korea's ruling Democratic Party introduced the Digital Asset Basic Act on April 8, 2026, a comprehensive framework covering issuance, trading, custody, and supervision of digital assets. The bill had been delayed since late 2024 over a fundamental disagreement: who gets to issue won-pegged stablecoins.
Key provisions of the proposed legislation:
The central tension remains unresolved. The Bank of Korea insists on bank-majority ownership for stablecoin issuers to protect monetary policy transmission. The Financial Services Commission has warned this approach could stifle competition from fintechs like Toss. The Digital Asset Basic Act as proposed does not explicitly resolve this dispute, though its capital and reserve requirements are modeled on existing banking standards — a structure that implicitly favors incumbents.
For Toss, the outcome determines whether Money 3.0 is a full-stack platform play or a distribution-only strategy layered on top of bank-issued tokens.
Toss is not operating in a vacuum. At least three major competing blockchain-stablecoin efforts are active in South Korea:
Kakao Group: KakaoBank has advanced its KRW stablecoin initiative to active development, hiring blockchain backend engineers and building smart contract FX settlement infrastructure. The group plans to connect KakaoPay, KakaoBank, and KakaoTalk into a unified wallet-to-wallet (W2W) system. KakaoPay claims 42 million members with 24 million MAU. The stablecoin would run on Kaia, the blockchain formed from the merger of Kakao's Klaytn and Naver's LINE networks.
Naver Pay / Upbit consortium: Upbit, South Korea's largest crypto exchange, is partnering with Naver Pay (30 million monthly users) to create a KRW stablecoin targeting cross-border crypto flows. A stated goal is reducing the "kimchi premium" — the persistent price gap between Korean and international crypto markets — by enabling direct KRW-stablecoin to USD-stablecoin swaps.
Banking consortium: Hana Financial Group, BNK Financial, iM Bank, and SC First Bank have formed a banking consortium for KRW stablecoin issuance. Shinhan Financial is developing a stablecoin linked to food delivery platform Ddangyo. Woori Financial is integrating with Samsung Wallet.
Boston Consulting Group partner Shin Seung-hwan has stated that stablecoins represent the "fastest-commercializing sector among all digital assets." The competitive field suggests the KRW stablecoin market will be contested from day one.
Sooho.io's Project Namsan pilot — involving 2,000 foreign tourists and demonstrating a 70% reduction in retail FX fees (from ~1% to 0.3%) — provides an early data point on the cost advantages stablecoins could deliver in Korean payments infrastructure.
Toss is targeting a Q2 2026 U.S. IPO at a valuation above $10 billion, with the figure potentially reaching $15 billion under favorable conditions. The offering could raise $2-3 billion.
The blockchain strategy creates a narrative tension for the IPO. On one hand, it signals ambition and a path to new revenue streams — stablecoin transaction fees, on-chain credit products, cross-border remittance margins. On the other, it introduces execution risk and regulatory uncertainty into the equity story at the precise moment Toss needs to project stability to public-market investors.
The sequencing matters. If the Digital Asset Basic Act passes before or during the IPO window, Toss can present blockchain as a defined opportunity with clear rules. If the law remains stalled, the blockchain strategy becomes a speculative line item — high potential, unquantified risk.
The company's 2025 financial results (38% revenue growth, 270% operating profit growth, first-ever net profit of ~$151 million) provide a strong standalone case for the IPO independent of blockchain. The Money 3.0 narrative is additive, not foundational — unless Toss delays the listing to wait for regulatory certainty, which would signal that the blockchain bet is larger than the market currently assumes.
Toss's blockchain strategy is a calculated bet that a fintech super-app with 24 million monthly users, banking licenses, and merchant acquiring infrastructure can become the default issuer and distributor of programmable Korean won. The economics are compelling in theory: a closed-loop system from issuance to point-of-sale that captures fees at every layer.
The constraint is regulatory, not technical. South Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act will either open the door for fintech-led stablecoin issuance or funnel the market toward bank-dominated consortia. Toss has positioned itself for the former scenario while maintaining optionality for the latter through its distribution capabilities.
The concurrent IPO timeline adds urgency. Public-market investors will price the blockchain opportunity differently depending on whether regulations are settled or pending at the time of listing. The gap between Toss's Money 3.0 vision and its current blockchain headcount — early-stage hires, no confirmed architecture, no launch date — underscores that this remains a strategic intent, not an operational reality.
The KRW stablecoin market is valued at approximately $1.35 million today. The question is not whether it will grow, but who will control the infrastructure when it does.