According to the local South Korean news media Economic Review, eight major banks in South Korea are preparing to establish joint ventures to issue Korean won stablecoins. Participating banks include National Bank, Shinhan Bank, Uli Bank, Agricultural Cooperative Bank, Korea Industrial Bank, Mizuho Bank, Citibank Korea Branch, and Standard Chartered Bank Korea Branch. This project is developed in collaboration with the Open Blockchain and Decentralized Identifier Association, as well as the Korea Financial Telecommunication and Clearing House.
At present, relevant parties are still discussing common infrastructure. If regulatory approval permits, the joint venture is expected to be officially launched by the end of this year or early next year. Currently, the project team is considering two stablecoin issuance models. One is the trust model, which first trusts customer funds separately before issuing stablecoins; The second is the deposit token model, which links stablecoins to bank deposits.
