Kakao teams up with Circle to build a KRW stablecoin payment network, moving to secure an early foothold before South Korean regulations are finalized

Kakao Group and Circle sign a memorandum of cooperation, integrating Circle’s USDC blockchain and global payments infrastructure into Kakao’s consumer platform, covering KRW stablecoin payments, cross-border remittances, and merchant settlement. Korea’s stablecoin legislation is still being advanced, and technology and financial giants have already started to deploy ahead of time.
（Background: Kakao Group announced it will launch a stablecoin “counter–bank alliance,” targeting payments, remittances, and capital markets）
（Additional context: Korea’s largest financial group KB completes KRW stablecoin payment verification—by using Kaia to compress cross-border remittances to 3 minutes, cutting fees by 87%）

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• Korean regulations haven’t landed yet, but companies are already racing ahead with deployment
• Not just Kakao: Korea’s stablecoin race has fully kicked off
• From Japan to Korea: Circle’s Asia payments blueprint

Kakao Group, a Korean tech giant, announced on Thursday that it has signed a strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding (MOU) with stablecoin issuer Circle. The two sides will explore a KRW-collateralized stablecoin payment infrastructure, connecting Circle’s blockchain and global payments network to Kakao’s consumer platform and financial services.

According to Kakao’s official announcement, Kakao, Kakao Pay, and Kakao Bank are participating in the cooperation together. The areas covered include everyday stablecoin payments, cross-border remittances, merchant settlement, and integration between traditional financial systems and blockchain networks. Both sides are also considering support for tokenized financial services, but no specific products or timeline were disclosed.

Korean regulations haven’t landed yet, but companies are already racing ahead with deployment

The cooperation highlights a “first-mover” positioning strategy by Korean technology and financial platforms—starting to build out plans before stablecoin legislation is completed. The Korean government is pushing toward a legal framework for KRW stablecoins. Policy makers want to balance digital payments innovation with risks such as reserve funds, redemption and issuer regulation.

The government is preparing a bill covering requirements such as stablecoin issuance, collateral management, and internal controls. Legislators have put forward multiple competing proposals, including one that leans toward using KRW-collateralized tokens to reduce reliance on the US dollar.

However, the legislative process has stalled due to disagreements among institutions. The Bank of Korea argues that banks should hold a majority stake in stablecoin issuers, while the Financial Services Commission warns that qualification restrictions may compress competition and innovation.

In the economic growth strategy released on July 14, the Korean government listed the push for the “Basic Act on Digital Assets” as a priority for the second half of 2026.

Not just Kakao: Korea’s stablecoin race has fully kicked off

Kakao isn’t the only company moving in. In April, the internet bank Kbank partnered with Ripple to test blockchain cross-border remittances. In May, KB Financial Group completed verification testing covering stablecoin issuance, offline merchant payments, and cross-border remittances through the Kaia blockchain, and said that it is ready to roll out stablecoin services immediately after regulations take effect.

Circle is also not standing still. In April, Circle’s CEO explicitly said it does not plan to issue its own KRW stablecoin, but has already prepared “coin-issuing” technical infrastructure for the Korean market. This cooperation with Kakao is tantamount to licensing the technology to one of Korea’s largest tech ecosystems.

From Japan to Korea: Circle’s Asia payments blueprint

Circle has also recently rolled out similar plans in Japan, collaborating with Nomura Securities, aiming to let Japanese companies conduct cross-border real-time settlement using stablecoins in 2027. Combined with this cooperation with Kakao, Circle’s stablecoin payment network across Asia is starting to take shape.

For ordinary users, Kakao’s coverage means that once it goes live, Korea’s more than 20 million Kakao Pay users and Kakao Bank customers can use stablecoins for daily transactions directly, without needing to download an additional wallet or register a new financial account.

The next milestone for Korean stablecoins depends on when legislation clears the disagreements and goes live formally. But from the perspective of company actions, technical preparation is already in place—what remains is only a matter of time.