Kakao demos 'agentic payments' with won-backed stablecoin

Kakao Group has released the results of technology tests aimed at bringing a won-backed stablecoin into real-world use — covering everything from issuance and redemption to digital wallet transfers, payments and cross-border settlement. Even as legislation on won stablecoins remains stalled, the financial and platform industries are accelerating their preparations for the market that would follow regulation.

Kakao Group co-hosted "Next Finance Korea" with KB Kookmin Bank on Monday, showcasing a range of services and technologies built around a won-backed stablecoin. The event marked the first time Kakao Group had publicly laid out in concrete detail the business models it has been developing to position the won stablecoin as an everyday payment instrument.

Demonstrations covered won stablecoin issuance and redemption, transfers and payments via a digital asset wallet, domestic payments by foreign visitors and the associated settlement process, and "agentic payments" — a system in which AI executes transactions on behalf of users.

Kakao Group is organizing its stablecoin business around four broad stages: issuance, distribution infrastructure, user channels and actual points of use. The plan is to link the financial and payment infrastructure of Kakao Bank and Kakao Pay with Kakao's platform touchpoints, so the stablecoin takes root not as a speculative asset but as a practical tool for everyday payments and transfers.

Son Kyung-hee, executive vice president and head of the digital asset group at Kakao Pay, said the company had been evaluating the business case for the new venture since last year and was now at the stage of having the technology in place for issuance and distribution while identifying and validating real-world use cases.

Kakao Group has also been rapidly expanding partnerships with domestic and overseas players. On Wednesday of last week, Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank signed an MOU with global digital asset infrastructure firm Fireblocks to verify stablecoin distribution solutions and security frameworks. The following day, the group announced plans to work with Southeast Asian platform company Grab, as well as SCBX and Kyobo Life, to explore a practical model spanning won stablecoin issuance, distribution, payments and remittances.

Going beyond bilateral corporate tie-ups, Kakao Group also proposed forming an open-industry roundtable — "Next Finance Korea" — that would bring together banks, brokerages and other financial institutions alongside fintech and platform companies, virtual asset businesses, and e-commerce and content firms. The initiative is intended to jointly design an ecosystem in which multiple players participate across the full chain from stablecoin issuance and distribution to actual points of use.

Yun Ho-young, CEO of Kakao Bank and co-head of the Kakao Group stablecoin TF, said that promoting won stablecoin circulation, building a digital asset-based payment and settlement infrastructure, and creating a mutually viable ecosystem were all tasks that required cooperation among companies.

Shin Won-keun, CEO of Kakao Pay and co-head of the TF, said that staying competitive in the next-generation financial infrastructure race — one shaped by the convergence of AI and blockchain — would require broad-based efforts spanning issuance, distribution, regulation and security. "It is time for us to move together," he said.