{"id":20010,"date":"2026-05-18T13:25:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/south-korea-stablecoin-race-heats-up-as-kb-tests-offline-payments\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T13:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:25:17","slug":"south-korea-stablecoin-race-heats-up-as-kb-tests-offline-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/south-korea-stablecoin-race-heats-up-as-kb-tests-offline-payments\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea stablecoin race heats up as KB tests offline payments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.crypto.news\/2025\/11\/crypto-news-Shakey-ground-When-stablecoins-arent-so-stable-option03.webp\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>KB Financial Group completed a proof of concept for a South Korean won-denominated stablecoin.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_9c65880c856955870d2c4ab3a16e5d4c\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<p>\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>KB Financial tested won stablecoin issuance, offline QR payments, merchant settlement and Vietnam remittances.<\/li>\n<li>The Vietnam transfer finished in under three minutes and cut fees by about 87%.<\/li>\n<li>South Korea\u2019s stablecoin rules remain unsettled as banks and fintech firms continue payment pilots.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>The pilot tested payments, settlement and overseas remittances with KG Inicis, Kaia and OpenAsset.<\/p>\n<p>The project tested the full service flow. It covered issuance, offline payments, merchant settlement and remittances. DigitalToday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitaltoday.co.kr\/en\/view\/55979\/kb-financial-completes-poc-for-won-stablecoin-payments-settlement-and-remittances\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">reported<\/a> that the pilot kept the user-facing payment flow familiar while moving the internal settlement process to blockchain.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Offline QR payments tested at Hollys<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The offline payment test took place at Hollys coffee kiosks. Users paid through QR codes without installing a separate crypto wallet. A smart contract then handled settlement automatically.<\/p>\n<p>The setup matters because it places stablecoin payments inside a normal retail setting. It also shows how banks could use blockchain settlement while keeping the checkout process close to existing mobile payments.<\/p>\n<p>Further, KB Financial also tested a cross-border remittance flow. The process converted a won stablecoin into a dollar stablecoin through Kaia\u2019s on-chain liquidity, then sent funds to a bank account in Vietnam through a local partner.<\/p>\n<p>The transfer finished in under three minutes. DigitalToday and Maeil Business Newspaper reported that the test reduced fees by about 87% compared with existing SWIFT-based transfers.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Stablecoin rules remain the main barrier<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>KB Financial said it plans to build operational capacity so it can launch stablecoin services when South Korea\u2019s digital asset laws are ready. A KB Financial official said, \u201cIt is important to reduce dependence on overseas platforms and for the domestic financial sector to proactively secure operational capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The regulatory path remains open. Reuters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/bank-korea-governor-nominee-positive-about-won-denominated-stablecoins-2026-04-14\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">reported<\/a> in April that Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song supported won-denominated stablecoins as part of the future currency system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, Reuters also reported earlier that the central bank <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/bank-korea-deputy-chief-says-desirable-introduce-stablecoins-gradually-2025-06-24\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">preferred<\/a> a gradual rollout led by tightly regulated commercial banks because stablecoins may affect monetary policy and settlement systems.<\/p>\n<p>Recent crypto.news coverage <a href=\"https:\/\/crypto.news\/new-bank-of-korea-governor-pushes-cbdc-plan-leaves-out-stablecoins\/\" target=\"_blank\">shows<\/a> the same policy split. Shin\u2019s first speech as Bank of Korea governor focused on CBDCs and deposit tokens, while stablecoins remained a contested part of South Korea\u2019s digital finance agenda.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/crypto.news\/south-korea-stablecoin-race-heats-up-as-kb-tests-offline-payments\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KB Financial Group completed a proof of concept for a South Korean won-denominated stablecoin.\u00a0 Summary KB Financial tested won stablecoin issuance, offline QR payments, merchant settlement and Vietnam remittances. The Vietnam transfer finished in under three minutes and cut fees by about 87%. South Korea\u2019s stablecoin rules remain unsettled as banks and fintech firms continue [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":19007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"kronos_expire_date":[],"class_list":["post-20010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20010"},{"taxonomy":"kronos_expire_date","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoted.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kronos_expire_date?post=20010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}