Kakao is joining hands with U.S. stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group to expand businesses in won-based digital asset and Blockchain payment infrastructure.
Kakao, Kakao Pay, and KakaoBank said on the 23rd that they signed a strategic business agreement with Circle to discover joint businesses in digital asset technology and payments. The focus is to find business models usable at home and abroad by combining Kakao Group's platform and financial service competitiveness with Circle's global Blockchain payment technology.
The two sides will review the business potential of digital asset linked to the won's value and tokenized financial services while examining domestic regulations and market conditions. They also will discuss ways to apply Circle's infrastructure to overseas payments, remittances, and merchant settlement to improve processing efficiency. Cooperation will also cover work to strengthen interoperability among different services by connecting Blockchain networks with existing financial rails such as banks.
Kakao Group is preparing a won stablecoin ecosystem that combines KakaoTalk's user base with Kakao Pay's payment function and KakaoBank's financial capabilities. The plan is to build common infrastructure so that other domestic corporations, not limited to Kakao-affiliated services, can also develop products and services based on stablecoins.
USDC issued by Circle had 73.1 billion dollars in circulation as of July 20. Reserve assets are managed separately from company operating funds, and a major accounting firm publishes verification results every month. Starting in 2025, Circle is also expanding cross-border payment businesses using stablecoins by operating the "Circle Payments Network," which connects financial companies and payment firms.