KakaoBank, South Korea’s leading internet-only bank and part of the Kakao Group, has launched a task force to develop a Korean won-pegged stablecoin, per Kanalcoin. Announced on August 5, 2025, the initiative involves top executives from KakaoBank, Kakao Pay, and other affiliates, led by CEO Jung Shin-ah, with weekly strategy meetings to integrate the stablecoin into Kakao’s ecosystem (KakaoTalk, Kakao Games, Kaia chain), per bitcoinethereumnews.com. The move triggered a 19.3% surge in KakaoBank’s stock to 39,500 KRW ($29.01), reflecting investor optimism, per @cryptotalemedia. The bank filed 12 trademark applications (e.g., BKRW, KRWB, KKBKRW) for crypto-related services, following Kakao Pay’s 18 filings for KPKRW, per The Korea Herald.
South Korea’s Digital Asset Basic Act, under discussion in the National Assembly, aims to legalize won-pegged stablecoins with a reduced capital requirement of 500M KRW ($365,000), per Cointelegraph. Supported by President Lee Jae-myung and Kim Yong-beom, a former vice finance minister now at Hashed, the bill shifts oversight to the Financial Services Commission (FSC), allowing non-banks like Kakao Pay to issue stablecoins, per PANews. However, the Bank of Korea (BOK) warns of risks—coin runs, forex market shocks, and monetary policy erosion—insisting only commercial banks like KakaoBank should issue stablecoins, per KED Global. A BOK report cites $41.5B in Q1 2025 stablecoin trading (USDT: 83.1%, USDC: 16.9%), highlighting market size but also volatility risks, per The Korea Times.
Unlike earlier South Korean stablecoin attempts, KakaoBank’s initiative leverages its 20M+ user base and Kaia chain’s $106M in bridged USDT, per Cryptopolitan. JPM Coin’s 2019 launch boosted fiat-pegged asset volumes by 12%, per DSRV Lab, but lacked a consortium approach, per Kanalcoin. Kakao’s integration with KakaoTalk (95% penetration, 50M monthly users) and LINE (70% in Japan) positions it for mass adoption, per PANews. Kaia’s merger of Klaytn and Finschia (August 2024) enhances scalability, with 200K daily transactions, per @smith_susa15900. Competitors like Toss Bank (48 trademarks) and KB Kookmin (32 trademarks) are also in the race, per The Korea Herald.
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