BC Card Tests USDC Payments for Overseas Wallet Holders in South Korea

South Korean payment processor BC Card has completed a proof-of-concept (PoC) for foreign visitors to pay at domestic merchants using USDC stablecoins from their wallets. This was made possible by Wavebridge, a digital-asset infrastructure firm that built the conversion layer allowing the test.

The PoC solved the problem of converting stablecoins in a foreign wallet into Korean won without needing an intermediate currency exchange step. The test ran on Base, Coinbase's public blockchain network, using its payment infrastructure to settle transactions on the wallet side.

The companies also tested what happens when a transaction fails or is canceled, with the aim of returning the stablecoin to the customer's wallet instead of getting stuck in the system.

BC Card's network covers 3.5 million merchants nationwide, and Wavebridge plans to move from this controlled test into production blockchain environments next, building out risk-management systems as it works toward regulatory approval for a commercial rollout.