South Korea’s Biggest Banks Join Forces on Won-Backed Stablecoin

A group of South Korea’s top commercial banks is taking a major step toward launching a stablecoin tied to the Korean won. A consortium including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Nonghyup, Industrial Bank of Korea, Suhyup, Citi Korea, and Standard Chartered Korea is leading the plan. Their goal is to bring a bank-issued digital won to.. The post South Korea’s Biggest Banks Join Forces on Won-Backed Stablecoin appeared first on 99Bitcoins.

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Jun 26, 2025 - 22:00

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South Korea’s Biggest Banks Join Forces on Won-Backed Stablecoin

A group of South Korea’s top commercial banks is taking a major step toward launching a stablecoin tied to the Korean won. A consortium including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Nonghyup, Industrial Bank of Korea, Suhyup, Citi Korea, and Standard Chartered Korea is leading the plan. Their goal is to bring a bank-issued digital won to market by the end of 2025 or early 2026.

The idea behind this collaboration is to offer an alternative to the rising dominance of dollar-based stablecoins like USDT and USDC. Traders and users across South Korea’s crypto ecosystem have widely used these foreign assets, often to fill gaps in payments and trading. But with nearly 57 trillion won worth of dollar stablecoin trade volume moving through the country in the first quarter of 2025, local banks are clearly looking to take back control.

Domestic Push for Monetary Control

This stablecoin initiative is closely tied to growing concerns about monetary sovereignty. Financial authorities and lawmakers are becoming uneasy about how much influence foreign-denominated digital assets now have on local transactions. Some view it as a gradual loss of national control, especially since private firms outside Korea issue and manage the currency used by Korean traders and consumers.