Circle Forges Partnerships with Kakao Group and Toss Bank for Stablecoin Payments in South Korea
Circle, the US-based issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has made significant inroads into South Korea's digital economy by signing memorandums of understanding with Kakao Group and Toss Bank. The partnerships aim to explore blockchain-based payment infrastructure and digital asset technology, paving the way for potential stablecoin payments.
The collaboration with Kakao Group brings together Circle's expertise and one of South Korea's most influential consumer technology ecosystems, including messaging platform KakaoTalk, mobile payment service Kakao Pay, and internet-only bank KakaoBank. The agreement focuses on evaluating business opportunities in won-based digital assets, tokenized financial services, cross-border payments, and merchant settlement systems.
Kakao Group is looking to streamline overseas remittances and improve the efficiency of settling payments with merchants using Circle's infrastructure. Shin Won-geun, CEO of Kakao Pay and head of Kakao Group's stablecoin task force, emphasized that 'the competitiveness of digital assets is not built on technology alone,' highlighting the importance of platform, payment, and financial service experience.
Circle also signed a parallel MOU with Viva Republica, operator of Toss Bank, to assess opportunities for stablecoin-based payments. This partnership focuses squarely on evaluating business opportunities in stablecoin-based payments.