KB Financial Pilot Cuts Remittance Fees 87% With Won Stablecoin

KB Financial Group completed a pilot of a South Korean won–denominated stablecoin on the Kaia blockchain that tested issuance, merchant settlement and remittances. The project involved blockchain firm Kaia, electronic payments company KG Inicis and fintech OpenAsset, and ran merchant and remittance tests in Seoul and Vietnam.

In the cross-border trial, the won stablecoin was converted into a U.S. dollar stablecoin and delivered to a bank account in Vietnam. Kaia provided an email stating, ‘The full transfer was completed in under three minutes, with an 87% fee reduction compared to the same transaction executed through the SWIFT network.’ The SWIFT network is the global messaging system used by banks for international payments.

For the offline payment test, customers paid at Hollys cafes in Seoul using QR codes. The payment flow did not require users to install a cryptocurrency wallet; merchant settlement was handled through the pilot’s stablecoin infrastructure and a QR-based checkout process.

KB Financial said it will launch stablecoin services once national digital asset regulations are in place. Lawmakers have not finalized a Digital Asset Basic Act; regulators remain divided on issuer rules. The Bank of Korea has argued banks should hold majority ownership of stablecoin issuers, while the Financial Services Commission has warned strict limits could hinder innovation. Formal deliberations on the bill are not expected to resume before local elections in June.

The pilot adds to experiments by established South Korean financial firms exploring stablecoin use cases. A major card issuer has agreed to test stablecoin payments on a different blockchain. KB Kookmin, the group’s main bank, reported more than 584.9 trillion won in total assets in its fourth-quarter factbook.