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

According to Bloomingbit, Ji Man-soo, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Financial Research Institute, stated that before deciding on the issuing entity for the Korean won 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 use cases 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 currency (CBDC) and tokenized deposits. Ji Man-soo suggested that discussions around the Korean won stablecoin should begin by asking, “Which problems in Korea’s domestic financial and payment systems can it solve?” Concurrently, specific applications for payments, asset tokenization, and trade finance must be designed to ensure the regulatory framework is effectively implemented.