Korean banks will join "Pangea," a project to jointly verify with European banks an overseas remittance method that uses stablecoins based on their own currency.
On the 25th, the financial sector said more than 10 major Korean commercial banks, including Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, NH Nonghyup Bank and Kbank, will carry out the Pangea project with European banks.
It is a follow-up to last year's "Pax Project," in which financial institutions from Korea and Japan participated to conduct a proof of concept (PoC) for overseas remittances using stablecoins. Participants include Qivalis, a European banking corporation pushing for the issuance of a euro-denominated stablecoin, SWIFT, Chainlink and Fairsquare Lab.
The participating institutions plan to design and verify a structure that directly handles exchange and settlement between a won-based stablecoin and a euro-based stablecoin. Through this, they will check whether it is possible to reduce steps in existing overseas remittance processes that pass through multiple financial institutions and currency, and will review the technology and operating frameworks needed to link stablecoins issued by country.
After project design and pilot model development, they plan to empirically test overseas remittances and interbank funds settlement in stages.
A Shinhan Bank official said, "Project Pangea is a process to check whether stablecoins based on domestic currency can actually be used for overseas remittances," adding, "We will work closely with financial institutions at home and abroad to prepare a safe and efficient next-generation overseas remittance model."
A Kbank official also said, "We will work with global financial institutions to verify the potential of next-generation remittance and settlement models and strengthen our competitiveness in financial services based on digital assets."