Yoon Ho-yeong, CEO of internet-only bank KakaoBank, said, "KakaoBank will take the lead in issuing and distributing a won-based stablecoin."
On the 8th, at a press briefing held at the Fairmont Ambassador Seoul hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, Yoon said, "We will combine the nationwide service KakaoTalk with a won stablecoin to offer convenient and easy payment usability," and stated accordingly.
Yoon said, "Once laws related to virtual assets are enacted, a license needed to issue a won stablecoin will emerge, and we will work to obtain it."
Yoon went on to say, "Our ultimate goal is to let customers use the issued won stablecoin as easily as withdrawing and spending cash from their accounts," adding, "To that end, we are working with partners that make up the consortium, including Kakao and Kakao Pay."
Kakao launched a group-level stablecoin task force (TF) around mid-last year and has been running it. Alongside Yoon, Chung Shin-a, Kakao CEO, and Shin Won-geun, Kakao Pay CEO, are serving as co-heads of the TF, and there is also an operations team made up of employees from the respective affiliates.
At the briefing, Yoon also mentioned plans to expand overseas to Mongolia after Indonesia and Thailand. KakaoBank plans to export its proprietary credit scoring system (CSS), "KakaoBank Score," developed using nonfinancial data, to financial institutions in Mongolia.
Earlier, Bank X, a joint-venture bank established by KakaoBank and Thailand's SCBX Group, was set to begin operations in the first half of next year. Yoon said, "We will use the results in Indonesia, Thailand, and Mongolia as a springboard to push ahead with a full-scale expansion into the global market."