# MoonPay Teams Up With Three Korean Banking Giants to Bring Stablecoins Into Everyday Finance

> MoonPay expands in Korea with KakaoBank, Woori Bank and KB Financial Group, targeting faster remittances, won-backed stablecoins and digital asset services.

By Lidia Yadlos · September 29, 2026

Canonical: https://blockster.com/moonpay-teams-up-with-three-korean-banking-giants-to-bring-stablecoins-into-everyday-finance

Sending money to a student overseas. Paying an international supplier. Converting Korean won into digital money that can move across borders.

Those are the practical uses behind MoonPay’s expansion in South Korea, where the company is building partnerships with **KakaoBank, Woori Bank and KB Financial Group**.

MoonPay says it is commencing full-scale operations through MoonPay Korea, positioning the subsidiary as a hub for future Asia-Pacific expansion. The collaborations span consumer remittances, business payments, wallets and potential won-backed stablecoin services.

The clearest near-term target comes from KakaoBank: testing whether money can move from a Korean customer to a U.S. bank account in **under one hour**.

The plans fit a central theme of this week’s [Korea Blockchain Week](https://blockster.com/crypto-wants-to-run-more-of-your-financial-life-kbw-is-where-that-pitch-gets-tested): bringing blockchain infrastructure into everyday financial activity. These partnerships are development programs and proofs of concept, rather than an announcement that every service is available today.

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## KakaoBank Targets Transfers in Under One Hour

MoonPay and KakaoBank plan to test a remittance model aimed initially at international students.

The proposed process covers the entire journey: initiating a transfer in Korea, moving funds through stablecoin infrastructure, converting them into dollars and depositing them into a U.S. bank account.

KakaoBank would handle domestic compliance and remittance processes. MoonPay would provide the international receiving, conversion and payout infrastructure.

The under-one-hour target measures more than the blockchain transfer itself. The test aims to include the steps needed to turn that transfer into usable money in a recipient’s bank account.

> The companies also plan to explore won-backed stablecoin distribution and services for trading, holding and swapping stablecoins linked to three currencies: the Korean won, U.S. dollar and Japanese yen.

Potential collaboration with Kakao affiliates, including Kakao Pay, could extend those capabilities into additional consumer services.

## Woori Bank Looks Beyond Korea’s Borders

The Woori partnership focuses on making won-based financial services more accessible internationally.

The proposed distribution network would let overseas Koreans, international students and tourists purchase, hold and convert won-backed stablecoins through MoonPay’s wallet and currency-conversion infrastructure.

That builds on an existing relationship. [MoonPay’s April announcement](https://www.moonpay.com/newsroom/moonpay-korea) identified Woori as its first Korean banking partner and outlined plans for global distribution and settlement of won-backed stablecoins.

[Post from @kbwofficial on X](https://twitter.com/kbwofficial/status/2060435060743184703?s=20)

The latest plans include testing business payments in both directions: Korean companies paying overseas counterparties and foreign companies sending funds into Korea.

For foreign workers and students, the companies envision a connected onboarding process. Woori would handle account opening and identity verification, while MoonPay would support currency conversion and remittances to the customer’s home country.

The focus on workers moving money internationally also connects with MoonPay’s earlier [stablecoin salary-payment partnership with Deel](https://blockster.com/deel-moonpay-bring-stablecoin-self-custodial-salary-payments-to-global-workers). The use cases differ, but both address how people receive and access money across borders.

## KB Financial Group Explores the Full Service Chain

With KB Financial Group, the scope extends across wallets, custody, stablecoin issuance and distribution, and cross-border payments.

The companies plan to explore infrastructure for both individuals and institutions, connecting KB’s domestic financial relationships with MoonPay’s global network.

A central component is converting between Korean won and digital assets through services integrated with domestic banking systems. These connections—often called on- and off-ramps—allow customers to move between conventional money and digital assets.

The wider goal is to connect stages that are often treated as separate products: issuing a stablecoin, distributing it, holding it securely and using it for payments.

That direction builds on MoonPay’s broader [enterprise stablecoin platform](https://blockster.com/moonpay-launches-enterprise-stablecoin-platform-to-power-the-future-of-global-payments), which brings issuance, swaps, currency conversion and payments into its infrastructure offering.

The Korean partnership announcement does not establish a launch date for those services or identify a won-backed stablecoin already available through the collaboration.

[Post from @moonpay on X](https://twitter.com/moonpay/status/2085335097608159290?s=20)

## Korea as a Testing Ground for Asia

MoonPay’s strategy depends on adapting its global infrastructure to local banking requirements.

That means working with Korean institutions on regulation, identity checks, domestic payment systems and the final steps that get money into a customer’s account. A fast blockchain transfer is only one part of that process.

The company plans to use Korea to test and refine these services before expanding them across other Asian markets.

Together, the three partnerships address different parts of the same challenge: KakaoBank’s consumer remittances, Woori’s international distribution and business payments, and KB’s broader digital asset services.

For customers, the eventual value will come down to practical results—how quickly money arrives, what the transfer costs and how easily it fits into the banking services they already use.