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2026年08月13日

Korea's Kakao Moves Ahead of the Law: The Won Stablecoin Race Will Be Decided by Who Gets Licensed to Issue

法制化を待たずに走る韓国カカオ ― ウォン建てステーブルコインの主導権は「発行の器」で決まる

The Job Postings Signal an Implementation Phase That Precedes the Law

On August 12, Kakao Pay stated on its recruiting page that it is preparing to issue a won-denominated stablecoin and to build a global ecosystem around it as the core of next-generation financial infrastructure. The roles advertised are a product manager and a server developer. The former will design stablecoin-based services and run proofs of concept, and will draft product policy and handle compliance in light of domestic and overseas regulation. The latter will build the systems for issuance and distribution.

This is not the company's first such hire. Korean reporting indicates Kakao Pay recruited for stablecoin strategy and global partnerships in January 2026, and for business and wallet product managers in March. Against competitors still exploring the opportunity through temporary task forces, Kakao Pay has been assessed as moving earlier into permanent staffing. The latest postings extend that pattern into the technical implementation of issuance and circulation itself.

The Circle Partnership Is About the Vessel, Not the Technology Transfer

In July, Kakao Corp, Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Circle Internet Group, the issuer of USDC. The declared scope spans stablecoin payments, cross-border remittances, merchant settlement, interoperability between blockchain networks and existing financial systems, and an examination of tokenized financial services. Kakao Group is also reported to be considering shared infrastructure that would let other domestic firms build related services alongside its own won stablecoin.

The agreement is not a binding commercial contract, and neither the issuance structure nor the launch timing has been determined. That distinction matters. What Circle can supply is design knowledge for the vessel itself: issuance, redemption, reserve management, multi-chain distribution. Under whose name that vessel will be authorized inside Korea is a question nobody can yet answer. Technical partnership is running ahead of legal standing.

Korea's Entire Debate Reduces to Who May Issue

Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act is being consolidated by the government and ruling party from multiple bills pending in the National Assembly, with enactment targeted for the second half of 2026. On July 29 the Financial Services Commission disclosed preparation of a unified government bill merging the competing proposals. The Bank of Korea has argued that issuance should be confined to consortia in which banks hold a majority stake, while the FSC has warned that such a restriction would suppress competition. Broad agreement exists that reserves must exceed 100 percent of circulating supply and be segregated at banks or approved institutions. Only the boundary of who may hold the license remains open.

That single unresolved boundary is shaping the competitive map. Naver is pursuing an all-stock acquisition of Dunamu, operator of the Upbit exchange, at a reported value of roughly 10.3 billion US dollars, while Hana Financial Group has taken a stake in Dunamu and is pursuing a distribution consortium. Eight major commercial banks are advancing a joint issuance plan, and Toss has emerged as a further variable. In June, Kakao was reported to have approached major commercial banks as well as regional financial groups including BNK Financial and JB Financial about forming a consortium. The intent is to secure partners in advance so that Kakao stands on the issuing side regardless of where the bank ownership threshold finally lands.

Japan and Korea Are Mirror Images

Japan resolved legal standing first. The revised Payment Services Act that took effect in 2023 established the status of electronic payment instruments, and issuers already exist, including the trust-type JPYSC and the funds-transfer-type JPYC. The authorization question is settled while everyday circulation is still being built. Korea is the inverse: it commands an unmatched distribution channel in the wallet embedded within KakaoTalk, but lacks the legal framework that would legitimize issuance.

For executives the point is that value accumulates in the same place in both markets. It is not the token specification, and it is not settlement speed. It is the verified customer registry and the legal standing to issue, and the barriers to entry and the margins concentrate at those two boundaries. Kakao Pay's parallel hiring of engineers and compliance staff before legislation exists is preparation to connect the first boundary the instant the second one opens.

Business Development Insights

  1. Secure the seat at the licensing table before securing the partnership. In the Korean market, technology partnerships are substitutable while equity and role within an issuing consortium are not. A Japanese company seeking exposure to the won stablecoin economy will capture a materially larger position by signalling consortium intent before the bank ownership threshold is fixed, rather than entering later at the technology-supply or merchant-acceptance layer. That Kakao has widened its outreach to regional financial groups indicates the scarcity of those seats is already understood.
  2. The Japan-Korea asymmetry is itself a commercial opportunity. Japan has settled issuance law and thin circulation; Korea has thick circulation and unsettled issuance law. The asymmetry creates design space for cross-border payments and remittances that connect each side's strength to the other's gap. Concrete corridors such as payments by Korean visitors in Japan, and small-value cross-border charges for Korean content and fandom commerce, are likely to activate once both regulatory regimes mature from late 2026 onward. Discussion of interconnection specifications is worth starting now.
  3. The "super wallet" concept is a contest over identity infrastructure, not over wallets. The core of holding fiat, stablecoins, crypto assets and local currency in a single application is not interface consolidation but the ability to extend an existing verified customer base onto onchain assets. The implication for financial institutions is direct: how the institution's own KYC-verified customer identities connect to onchain permissioning should be designed before token issuance is evaluated. Pursuing issuance without that design cedes control of distribution to the platform layer.

Sources

Supervisor

Akihisa Ishida

Cabinet Inc. Founder CEO

Since 2017, He has been consistently engaged in token and NFT utilization, blockchain game planning and development, and NFT-based business development. Having contributed to over 80 blockchain products—including projects for major entertainment companies listed in Tokyo Stock Exchange —He has served in various key roles such as Business Lead, Designer, PM, and Advisor. In 2021, founded Cabinet Inc.

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