KakaoBank Enters the Korean Won Stablecoin Market
Date: 2025-08-07 Author: Henry Casey Categories: BUSINESS
South Korean bank KakaoBank has officially announced its intention to enter the stablecoin market, the total volume of which is estimated at $275 billion in 2025. As part of the semi-annual report, the bank's CFO Kwon noted that the company has already formed a strategic working group to integrate into the digital asset space. The group includes representatives of Kakao, KakaoPay, and KakaoBank itself.
Currently, these structures are developing a stablecoin that will be pegged to the Korean won at a ratio of 1:1. In June 2025, KakaoPay filed documents with the Korean Patent Office KIPO to register 18 trademarks and patents directly related to this project.
According to Kwon, over the past three years, KakaoBank has been actively developing the infrastructure for servicing digital asset transactions. In particular, customer identification (KYC) and suspicious transaction monitoring (AML) procedures were introduced. This allowed the bank to open accounts for trading virtual assets and increase the level of financial transparency.
In addition, the bank already has experience working with central bank digital currencies. It previously participated in pilot projects of the Bank of Korea related to the development and testing of a digital version of the won (CBDC). As part of these experiments, KakaoBank was engaged in the development of digital wallets and provided the ability to transfer between users.
The history of Kakao's involvement in blockchain dates back to 2019, when subsidiary Ground X introduced the Klaytn blockchain mainnet. This platform became the basis for a number of Web3 solutions and has been adopted by leading South Korean companies, including LG.
The stablecoin initiative confirms KakaoBank's desire to take a strong position in the digital economy. Given the existing technical base and support of the Kakao ecosystem, the project could have a significant impact on the stablecoin market in Asia.
