South Korea stablecoin race heats up as KB tests offline payments

KB Financial Group completed a proof of concept for a South Korean won-denominated stablecoin. 

The pilot tested payments, settlement and overseas remittances with KG Inicis, Kaia and OpenAsset.

The project tested the full service flow. It covered issuance, offline payments, merchant settlement and remittances. DigitalToday reported that the pilot kept the user-facing payment flow familiar while moving the internal settlement process to blockchain.

Offline QR payments tested at Hollys

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.

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.

Further, KB Financial also tested a cross-border remittance flow. The process converted a won stablecoin into a dollar stablecoin through Kaia’s on-chain liquidity, then sent funds to a bank account in Vietnam through a local partner.

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.

Stablecoin rules remain the main barrier

KB Financial said it plans to build operational capacity so it can launch stablecoin services when South Korea’s digital asset laws are ready. A KB Financial official said, “It is important to reduce dependence on overseas platforms and for the domestic financial sector to proactively secure operational capabilities.”

The regulatory path remains open. Reuters reported in April that Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song supported won-denominated stablecoins as part of the future currency system. 

However, Reuters also reported earlier that the central bank preferred a gradual rollout led by tightly regulated commercial banks because stablecoins may affect monetary policy and settlement systems.

Recent crypto.news coverage shows the same policy split. Shin’s first speech as Bank of Korea governor focused on CBDCs and deposit tokens, while stablecoins remained a contested part of South Korea’s digital finance agenda.