Kakao Pay and KakaoBank have signed a memorandum of understanding with crypto infrastructure provider Fireblocks to test stablecoin and other digital asset infrastructure in South Korea, Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 22, 2026. Fireblocks said in its Sept. 21 announcement that the three companies will run proof-of-concept tests built around South Korean regulatory, security and service requirements.
The agreement does not announce a stablecoin, an investment amount, a commercial product or a deployment date, according to Crypto.news. The companies plan to assess infrastructure demand and possible digital asset businesses before deciding whether any framework advances beyond testing.
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Key facts
- Kakao Pay and KakaoBank signed the MoU with Fireblocks; Fireblocks dated its announcement Sept. 21, 2026, and Cointelegraph published its report Sept. 22, 2026.
- The parties will run proof-of-concept tests covering South Korea’s regulatory, security and service requirements, and will examine distribution frameworks before testing their practical use.
- Fireblocks says its platform is used by more than 2,500 institutions, including over 100 banks, and supports custody, settlement, stablecoin payments, tokenization, trading and compliance across more than 200 blockchains.
- Kakao Group signed a separate July MoU with Circle covering blockchain-based payment infrastructure and won-denominated stablecoin research.
- Fireblocks identified Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun and KakaoBank CEO Yun Ho-young as co-heads of Kakao Group’s Stablecoin Task Force, a detail Crypto.news reported.
What the agreement covers
Fireblocks described secure onchain infrastructure as the central technical area of the agreement, with stablecoins receiving specific attention. The announcement states that no single technical design has been selected publicly, and it does not specify a blockchain, token standard, reserve structure, custody model or consumer rollout plan.
Kakao Pay brings mobile payments and financial services to the project, while KakaoBank, one of South Korea’s largest internet-only banks, provides the banking component. Both sit inside the wider Kakao ecosystem.
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KakaoBank CEO Yun said the parties expect to combine their technology and expertise to “develop secure and accessible digital asset services,” a statement that describes an intended direction rather than a confirmed product launch. Kakao Pay CEO Shin said Korea’s developing digital asset market “depends on the reliable flow of digital asset distribution.” Neither Kakao company disclosed whether a future stablecoin would be issued directly by a bank, another Kakao entity or an outside issuer.
Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov said infrastructure for Korean banks and payment platforms needs to be “engineered to meet institutional requirements from day one.” The agreement does not state whether Kakao Pay or KakaoBank has committed to using Fireblocks in a production environment.
Fireblocks platform figures
Fireblocks says its technology has been deployed by more than 2,500 institutions, including over 100 banks. Separate data on the company’s website says its network processes more than $200 billion in monthly stablecoin volume through more than 300 payment service providers, fintech companies and banks. Those are Fireblocks’ own platform statistics and were not presented as Kakao transaction volumes.
The Circle agreement came first
The Fireblocks pact follows Kakao Group’s July agreement with Circle, which the reports describe as covering stablecoin payments, blockchain settlement and digital asset infrastructure. Under that arrangement, Kakao said it would combine its consumer platform network, Kakao Pay’s payment services, KakaoBank’s banking operations and Circle’s blockchain technology, with the parties discussing payment and settlement infrastructure, remittances and connections between blockchain networks and existing financial systems.
No won-denominated stablecoin was launched under the July MoU. Crypto.news reported that Kakao and Circle had not set a launch date or confirmed a particular issuance model, while Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire had previously said Circle did not plan to issue its own KRW stablecoin. Crypto.news also reported that the Fireblocks agreement introduces another infrastructure provider into Kakao Group’s stablecoin research without replacing or ending the Circle arrangement, and that Fireblocks’ announcement does not describe Circle’s role in the new proof-of-concept tests or state whether the two relationships will share technology.
Why it matters
Kakao Pay and KakaoBank are among several South Korean financial and technology companies exploring stablecoin opportunities while the country develops its regulatory framework for digital assets. In May, KB Financial Group completed a won-denominated stablecoin pilot covering issuance, offline merchant payments and cross-border remittances, and in July fintech company Toss partnered with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs on a proof of concept for won-based stablecoin payment infrastructure.
The legal framework itself remains unfinished. South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has said its planned framework law for digital assets will include stablecoins. The FSC said in August that discussions over the government’s second-stage digital asset legislation were still underway and cautioned that some reported provisions had not been finalized, specifically rejecting claims that a proposed ownership cap for major crypto-exchange shareholders had already been settled. A Bank of Korea payment systems report published Sept. 17 said the central bank had created a Digital Asset Research Section after South Korea’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act took effect, and that the unit has participated in legislative discussions concerning KRW-denominated stablecoins.
What to watch
The proof-of-concept results and any decision by Kakao Pay or KakaoBank to move a framework beyond testing are the next concrete milestones; the MoU sets no timeline for that. Movement on the FSC’s digital asset framework law, including its stablecoin provisions, will shape whether bank- and payment-linked stablecoin work in South Korea can reach commercial deployment.
Reported by cointelegraph.com.
Sources: Cointelegraph, Crypto.news
