South Korea’s top financial conglomerate team up with Visa to test stablecoin issuance and B2B settlements
South Korean financial giant Shinhan has partnered with Visa to test a stablecoin-based settlement system for domestic and B2B transactions. This move positions Shinhan as a leader in adopting enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure within South Korea's evolving regulatory framework.
Why it matters
The integration of traditional banking with stablecoin technology represents a significant step toward mainstreaming blockchain for institutional financial services.
Seoul-based Shinhan intends to use Visa’s stablecoin platform to verify core functions, including issuance, remittance and redemption, while jointly designing a Korea-specific business model.
The deal marks the first time a South Korean top-tier financial group formally adopts Visa's enterprise stablecoin infrastructure, launched in July, to test a full domestic settlement stack. The agreement gives Visa a head start over Mastercard in bank-native stablecoin settlement infrastructure in South Korea. Mastercard's crypto partnerships in the country have so far stopped short of full stablecoin settlement integration.
Visa and Shinhan also plan to run pilot projects covering stablecoin integration into bank card payment settlement and the expansion of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) payments.
"We will combine Shinhan's financial capabilities with Visa's global infrastructure to jointly design new future finance models," said Jin Ok-dong, chairman of Shinhan Financial Group.
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