KB Financial Group, the parent company of South Korea’s largest bank KB Kookmin, completed a stablecoin pilot for offline payments and cross-border remittances via the Kaia blockchain.
KB tested the lifecycle of a South Korean won-denominated stablecoin, including issuance, merchant settlement and transfers, with Kaia, electronic payments company KG Inicis and fintech company OpenAsset, local outlet Yonhap reported.
The stablecoin pilot adds to the growing list of existing financial institutions in South Korea experimenting with stablecoins. In late April, one of the country’s largest credit card providers, Shinhan Card, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation to test stablecoin payments.
KB Kookmin is South Korea’s largest bank with more than 584.9 trillion won ($266.7 billion) in total assets, according to the bank’s report. fact book for the fourth quarter of 2025.
Source: Kaia
Stablecoin test reduced transfer fees by 87%
As part of KB Financial’s experiment, a mined stablecoin was converted into a US dollar stablecoin and delivered to a bank account in Vietnam.
The entire transfer was completed in less than 3 minutes, with an 87% rate reduction compared to the same transaction conducted over the SWIFT network, a Kaia spokesperson told Cointelegraph in an email.
The SWIFT network is the messaging network for international payments used by thousands of banks and financial institutions worldwide.
The offline payment test was conducted through Seoul-based coffee franchise Hollys, which allows users to pay via QR codes without having to install a cryptocurrency wallet.
Related: Vietnam Sees Q3 Launch for Regulated Crypto Asset Market: Report
KB plans to launch stablecoin services after regulations come into effect
KB is reportedly preparing to launch stablecoin services once regulations for digital assets in the country are established.
But the country’s proposed Digital Asset Basic Act has repeatedly stalled due to disagreements among regulators over who can issue stablecoins.
The Bank of Korea, the country’s central bank, has argued that banks should retain majority ownership in stablecoin issuers, while the Financial Services Commission warned that strict restrictions could slow innovation.
Formal deliberations are unlikely to resume before South Korea’s local elections in June.
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