Korean National Assembly Budget Office: Korean Won Stablecoin Expected to Save Up to $3.8 Billion in Settlement Fees Annually

Coin Circle (120BTc.COM) reports: The Korean National Assembly Budget Office (NABO) recently released a forward-looking report that profoundly reveals the commercial potential of new payment mediums. In assessing the transition from card payments to stablecoin payments, the agency calculated two dimensions of cost reduction based on different fee pricing models: under conservative expectations, merchants could save approximately 370 billion won (about $275 million) annually; in an optimistic scenario, this figure could soar to 515 billion won (about $3.8 billion).

Looking at the global digital asset landscape, the current market exhibits extreme singularity. As of July this year, US dollar stablecoins accounted for an absolute share of 98.8% of a total market capitalization of $312.3 billion, while compliant stablecoins pegged to non-US currencies like the Korean won are almost non-existent. The launch of a localized Korean won stablecoin means that the South Korean real economy will gain a highly cost-effective digital payment alternative.

Regulatory Pathways in Dispute

There is an ongoing protracted battle among South Korea's core financial sectors over which institutions should lead the issuance of compliant stablecoins. The Bank of Korea (BOK) insists on a strong regulatory logic, requiring that the issuing entity must be at least 51% controlled by traditional commercial banks, thereby firmly locking the underlying control of digital currency within the existing financial system. However, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) leans towards a market-oriented approach, fearing that overly stringent entry barriers could stifle financial technology innovation, advocating for a more diverse range of market participants to be granted licenses.

Despite the issuance rights being undecided, South Korea has already taken the lead in surrounding compliance construction. The "Cryptocurrency Investment Protection Act," which came into effect in July this year, has established a fundamental legal firewall for user asset segregation and insider trading prevention.

Preventing Systemic Risks

While outlining the payment blueprint, NABO also issued a serious warning about potential systemic shocks. The primary concern is the deposit migration effect: if the interest-bearing mechanism or circulation convenience of stablecoins is too high, savings funds will migrate en masse from traditional bank accounts to stablecoin issuers. This would directly undermine the credit intermediation function of commercial banks, posing a significant threat to the South Korean economic system, which heavily relies on bank credit financing.

Secondly, there are risks of bank runs and decoupling. In the event of a large-scale redemption triggered by extreme market conditions, if the issuer is forced to sell off underlying reserve assets, it could easily lead to price decoupling and destroy market consensus. To address this, the office has clearly proposed three major risk control measures: implementing strict reserve constraints, limiting the cash redemption amounts of stablecoins to curb illegal deposit-taking effects, and enhancing real-time monitoring of derivative tokens that may threaten financial stability.

Empowering Tokenized Securities

The strategic positioning of stablecoins extends far beyond daily payments at the retail end. According to the Financial Services Commission's plan, South Korea will officially launch the expansion project for Tokenized Securities in February 2027, and plans to seamlessly integrate the blockchain securities trading system with stablecoin payment infrastructure in subsequent phases. This marks that the Korean won stablecoin will be endowed with a grander mission—serving as the core settlement layer of the future digital capital market.

Meanwhile, macro policy makers are closely monitoring the marginal impact of such assets on the foreign exchange market. The latest research report released by the Bank of Korea this month pointed out that direct hedging trading pairs of the domestic currency against US dollar stablecoins on offshore platforms like Binance are exerting substantial downward pressure on the domestic exchange rate, indicating that digital assets have begun to extend their reach into traditional foreign exchange markets. NABO further emphasized that although the current correlation between US dollar stablecoins circulating in South Korea and Bitcoin, foreign exchange, and traditional stock markets remains limited, this cross-asset resonance risk may sharply rise during periods of heightened geopolitical friction or abnormal strengthening of the US dollar index.

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