SEOUL, July 23, 2026. USDC issuer Circle has signed separate agreements to explore stablecoin business opportunities with South Korean technology giants Kakao and Toss (Viva Republica). The announcements landed on the same day Circle hosted "Current Seoul," an invitation-only gathering at Seoul's Josun Palace, bringing together senior executives from Korean banks, fintech firms, and crypto exchanges under the theme "Korea at a Crypto Inflection."

The agreements were announced on Thursday alongside the event. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire traveled to Seoul in April 2026 and held meetings with KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank, and major crypto exchange operators Dunamu and Bithumb. Circle's Chief Strategy Officer Dante Disparte, Asia-Pacific head Yam Ki Chan, and VP of Business Development Ben Morris led the company's delegation at the gathering. Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun was among the Korean executives who addressed the event.

Infrastructure Provider, Not a Rival Issuer

Circle has been explicit about its positioning: it does not intend to issue a Korean won-pegged stablecoin itself. The company wants to serve as the technology and infrastructure layer for Korean firms that do plan to issue one. That credibility carries commercial weight. Circle reported Q4 2025 revenue of $770 million, a 77 percent increase quarter-over-quarter, a figure that helps explain why Korean partners view an infrastructure arrangement with Circle as a serious proposition. Allaire set out the condition for market entry clearly in April. "If a legal pathway is established for global companies like Circle to legally enter and operate, just as we have done in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Europe, we are very willing to obtain a license and establish a South Korean branch," he said. That framing puts Circle in the role of enabler rather than competitor in a domestic market already crowded with local claimants.

USDC currently carries a market cap above $32 billion and processes more than $197 billion in monthly transaction volume, figures current as of Circle's Korea push in mid-2026. On Coinone, one of South Korea's licensed exchanges, USDC already accounts for 42 percent of daily trading volume, a figure that signals strong existing demand for dollar-denominated stablecoins among Korean users even before any formal regulatory framework for domestic issuance exists.

A Six-Way Race for the Won

The broader context is a fast-moving contest among at least six entities to issue the first mainstream Korean won-pegged stablecoin. BDACS and Woori Bank launched KRW1 on the Avalanche blockchain in September 2025, making it the first won-backed token, fully collateralized 1:1 with reserves held at Woori Bank. Since then the field has widened sharply.

Kakao, whose KakaoPay platform serves 42 million users, has filed six trademarks for stablecoin tickers including PKRW and KKRW, and is positioning its Kaia blockchain (formed from the 2024 merger of Klaytn and Finschia) as a global fandom operating system to route K-pop and entertainment payments in won. Toss, with 30 million users, has filed trademarks for 24 stablecoin names and declared an intent to deploy 500,000 point-of-sale terminals by the end of 2026, giving it a distinct edge in offline retail settlement. Naver Financial and Upbit operator Dunamu, now combined in an all-stock deal worth approximately $10.3 billion, are building a custom Ethereum Layer-2 called GIWA, a project tied to the Dunamu ecosystem. An eight-bank consortium comprising KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, NongHyup, Industrial Bank, Suhyup, Citibank Korea, and Standard Chartered First Bank is also positioning in the space. Coupang Pay, with $33 billion in annual revenue, posted stablecoin job listings in March 2026 and has cited potential savings of $200 million a year on cross-border supplier payments.

Kakao executives have acknowledged that winning the won-coin business "will be difficult with only its affiliates such as Kakao, KakaoBank, and KakaoPay," according to a May 2026 report in the Seoul Economic Daily, making external partnerships with firms like Toss or KB Financial strategically necessary. That admission helps explain why Kakao is seeking to broaden its coalition rather than pursue the market alone.

The scale of the pressure driving all of this activity is visible in one number: roughly $40 billion flowed out of Korean exchanges into USD-pegged stablecoins in the first quarter of 2025 alone. Total South Korean stablecoin volume for the same quarter reached approximately 57 trillion won (around $41 billion), a separate metric that underscores how deeply embedded stablecoin activity already is in Korean financial markets. About 18 million Koreans, more than a third of adults, hold crypto assets. Shin Won-keun of Kakao Pay put the strategic stakes plainly: "Stablecoins are digital assets optimized for the age of artificial intelligence, so companies will have little choice but to adopt them."

Regulatory Framework Still Pending

The political stakes extend beyond commercial competition. President Lee Jae Myung has explicitly framed a Korean won stablecoin as a national priority, citing the need to counter USD stablecoin dominance in Asian crypto markets. That framing has added urgency to legislative progress and raised the stakes for domestic issuers and foreign infrastructure providers alike.

South Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act (DABA), the legislation that would establish formal rules for stablecoin issuance, is still moving through the legislature. The ruling Democratic Party's draft, tabled in April 2026, would require issuers to hold reserves of 100 percent or more in high-quality assets, held separately from the issuer's own balance sheet, with full redemption rights for holders. Analysts have noted that this standard is stricter than the equivalent rules under Europe's MiCA framework. Passage is expected in the second half of 2026, though a jurisdictional dispute between the Bank of Korea (which favors restricting issuance to banks) and the Financial Services Commission (which supports broader fintech participation) has slowed progress.

Why This Extends Beyond Seoul

The structures taking shape in Seoul are relevant to markets well outside South Korea. Circle has added payout corridors to India, Singapore, the Philippines, and the UAE through its Payments Network in the same period, and already holds licenses in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Europe. The pattern suggests a coordinated effort to position USDC infrastructure ahead of domestic regulation in each market rather than waiting for rules to finalize first.

For labor-sending countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia, Korean won stablecoins could eventually open cheaper B2B remittance corridors. Worker remittances flowing between those regions and South Korea currently move through correspondent banking routes that carry high costs. How quickly that opportunity materializes depends on which chain becomes the default settlement layer in Korea and whether DABA passes with terms broad enough to allow fintech firms, not just banks, to issue. The agreements between Circle and its Korean partners suggest Kakao and Toss are both betting the answer to that second question will favor them.

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Sources: Yonhap News Agency; The Korea Times; DL News; The Korea Herald; Seoulz; Seoul Economic Daily; CoinDesk; a16z Crypto.