Eight South Korean commercial banks have come together to establish a won-backed stablecoin.
Their announcement, on 25 June 2025, marks the first time that commercial banks in South Korea have formed a consortium to collectively enter the digital asset business. The banks have entered this collaboration in partnership with the Open Blockchain 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 announced their consortium after the South Korean central bank advocated for a phased rollout of a won-backed stablecoin.
KB Kookmin filed 17 trademark applications for the won-backed stablecoin with Korea’s Intellectual Property Rights Information Services. The filing also includes ticker symbols such as KBKRW, KRWKB, KBST and KRWST.
Furthermore, the trademark also covers product categories related to software for virtual currency applications and managing blockchain-based cryptocurrency transactions.
KB Kookmin Bank files trademarks for KRW stablecoin — big step for Korean digital assets
South Korea’s largest bank just filed 17 trademarks linked to a future Korean won–backed stablecoin — names like KBKRW, KRWKB, KBST, KRWST, and more.
👉 Comes as 🇰🇷 regulators are building… pic.twitter.com/GPykapMCOs
— CoinCraze Central (@CoinCrazeCen) June 25, 2025
In a recent press conference, Bank of Korea’s Senior Deputy Governor said, “It is desirable to first allow banks, which are under a high level of regulations, to issue (won-based stablecoins) and gradually expand to the non-bank sector with the experience.”
Historically, South Korea’s foreign exchange regulations have created significant barriers that prohibited the issuance of tokens representing the won. Binance’s BKRW (Binance KRW), BXB’s KRWb and Terraform Lab’s KRT all either collapsed or wound down due to low traction.
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Two Stablecoin Models Finalised
Per the South Korean stablecoin-related legislative initiatives, analysts expect the launch date of the consortium to be either the end of 2025 or early 2026.
According to local reports, banks are actively discussing shared infrastructure and have unveiled two initial methods by which they plan to issue the won-backed stablecoin.
Method one is a trust-based model where coins are issued against separately held customer funds. Their second method is a deposit-linked model that ties stablecoin issuance directly to bank deposits on a 1:1 basis.
“There is a shared sense of crisis that if things continue this way, foreign dollar coins could dominate the domestic market,” a banking official noted. “It is time to secure both the independence and competitiveness of the domestic financial system through a won-based digital currency.”
South Korea’s phased rollout of the won-backed stablecoin is in stark contrast to the dollar-pegged stablecoins, which are only now beginning to gain attention from banks.
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Won-Backed Stablecoin Has Political Backing
Lee Jae-myung, South Korea’s new President, had made his allegiance clear towards the creation of KRW stablecoins ahead of the presidential elections. He had argued that won-backed stablecoins will stem the outflow of wealth to dollar-pegged stablecoins.
Following the election, the Democratic Party of Korea introduced the Digital Basic Act on 10 June 2025 to fast-track the establishment of a regulatory framework to govern stablecoins in South Korea.
According to a local publication, the South Korean financial sector is biding its time to see if won-backed stablecoins can balance the domestic digital currency ecosystem amidst stiff competition from Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), privately issued coins and dollar-pegged stablecoins.
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Key Takeaways
- 8 commercial South Korean banks have formed a consortium to back a won-backed stablecoin
- The initiative will be launched by the end of 2025 or early 2026
- A trust based model and a deposit based model have been finaised so far to issue the stablecoin
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