South Korean Financial Institutions Collaborate on Won-Supported Stablecoin Project
A group of eight commercial banks in South Korea has united to create a won-backed stablecoin.
Their declaration, made on 25 June 2025, signifies the inaugural instance of commercial banks in South Korea collaborating in a consortium to venture into the digital asset sector. This partnership has been formed alongside the Open Distributed record and Decentralised Identifier Association (OBDIA) and the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute (KFTC).
Citi Korea, KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Nonghyup, Industrial Bank of Korea, Suhyup, and Standard Chartered Korea revealed their consortium following the South Korean central bank’s endorsement for a gradual implementation of a won-backed stablecoin.
KB Kookmin has submitted 17 trademark applications for the won-backed stablecoin to Korea’s Intellectual Property Rights Information Services. This submission also includes ticker symbols like KBKRW, KRWKB, KBST, and KRWST.
Additionally, the trademarks encompass product categories pertaining to software for virtual currency applications and the management of blockchain-based digital currency transactions.
KB Kookmin Bank files trademarks for KRW stablecoin — significant advancement for Korean digital assets
South Korea’s leading bank has just lodged 17 trademarks related to a future Korean won–backed stablecoin — names like KBKRW, KRWKB, KBST, KRWST, and more.
This comes as
— CoinCraze Central (@CoinCrazeCen) June 25, 2025
During a recent press conference, the Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Korea stated, “It is beneficial to initially permit banks, which are subject to extensive regulations, to issue (won-based stablecoins) and progressively extend to the non-bank sector with the acquired experience.”
Historically, South Korea’s foreign exchange regulations have imposed considerable obstacles that prevented the issuance of tokens representing the won. Binance’s BKRW (Binance KRW), BXB’s KRWb, and Terraform Lab’s KRT all either collapsed or shut down due to limited traction.
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Two Stablecoin Models Finalized
According to South Korean legislative initiatives regarding stablecoins, analysts predict the consortium’s launch to occur either at the end of 2025 or in early 2026.
As per local news, the banks are actively negotiating shared infrastructure and have introduced two primary models they intend to use for issuing the won-backed stablecoin.
The first model is a trust-based approach where coins are issued against separate customer funds. Their second model is a deposit-linked framework that directly associates stablecoin issuance with bank deposits on a 1:1 basis.
“There is a mutual understanding that if this continues, foreign dollar coins might dominate the local trading market,” remarked a banking official. “It’s crucial to establish both the autonomy and competitiveness of the domestic financial framework through a won-based crypto asset.”
South Korea’s phase-wise introduction of the won-backed stablecoin sharply contrasts with the dollar-pegged stablecoins, which are just starting to attract interest from banks.
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Political Price floor for Won-Backed Stablecoin
Lee Jae-myung, the newly elected President of South Korea, has openly expressed base level for the development of KRW stablecoins prior to the presidential elections. He contended that won-backed stablecoins would mitigate the outflow of assets towards dollar-pegged stablecoins.
Post-election, the Democratic Party of Korea introduced the Digital Basic Act on 10 June 2025 to accelerate the creation of a regulatory framework governing stablecoins in South Korea.
A local source noted that the South Korean financial sector is patiently awaiting to see if won-backed stablecoins can balance the domestic crypto asset landscape amid intense competition from Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), privately issued tokens, and dollar-pegged stablecoins.
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Key Points
- Eight South Korean commercial banks have formed a consortium to base level a won-backed stablecoin.
- The endeavor is expected to launch by late 2025 or early 2026.
- Two models—a trust-based model and a deposit-based model—have been finalized for issuing the stablecoin.
The article South Korean Banks Collaborate on Won-Backed Stablecoin Initiative first appeared on 99Bitcoins.
