Korea Financial Research Institute: Discussions on the Korean won stablecoin should prioritize use cases over issuing entities

TechFlow News, June 21: According to a report by Bloomingbit, Ji Man-soo, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute of Finance, stated that before determining the issuing entity for a won-denominated stablecoin, policymakers should prioritize reviewing concrete use cases and feasibility. Citing Hong Kong as a reference case, he noted that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has granted stablecoin issuance licenses to HSBC Hong Kong and AnchorPoint Financial—a joint venture established by Standard Chartered Hong Kong, Animoca Brands, and HKT—covering scenarios such as cross-border payments, domestic payments, tokenized asset trading, and supply chain finance, all aligned with broader digital finance strategies including central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenized deposits. Ji Man-soo recommended that South Korea’s discussion on won-denominated stablecoins begin with the question, “Which problems in the domestic financial and payment systems can it solve?”—and concurrently design specific applications for payments, asset tokenization, and trade finance, thereby ensuring the regulatory framework becomes truly effective and operational.