![\"null](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782210505_527_news-p.v1.20260616.8a8482472f694fb6b31e015e660fab0f_P1.png\"\/ "\\"Kakao")
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Kakao has begun discussions to form a consortium with banks for its won-denominated stablecoin business. As Naver builds a united front by strengthening ties with cryptocurrency exchange Dunamu and Hana Financial Group, Kakao is now moving in earnest to establish its own “won coin alliance” with external financial firms.<\/p>\n
According to the financial industry on Monday, Kakao recently proposed discussions to major commercial banks and others in the banking sector to form a won coin consortium.<\/p>\n
Kakao is said to be exploring the possibility of cooperation with some regional financial groups, including BNK Financial and JB Financial. While there had been observations that Kakao was maintaining behind-the-scenes contacts with multiple financial firms for its won coin business, this is the first time concrete moves toward forming a consortium have been confirmed.<\/p>\n
![\"null](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782210507_118_news-g.v1.20260616.dc5ff0e89d87450f91c191b1bf00aeca_P1.jpg\"\/ "\\"Kakao")
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A senior industry official familiar with the matter said, “Kakao recently pushed to hold a session with multiple banks to share the vision, challenges, and future research directions of the won coin.” He added, “I understand that a plan to conduct proof of concept (PoC) with banks willing to participate was also discussed.” He continued, “There are additional matters to coordinate, so the schedule has been postponed for now, but it is true that Kakao has entered official discussions with the banking sector.”<\/p>\n
Kakao had previously been reviewing its won coin business through a task force (TF) centered on group affiliates such as Kakao, KakaoBank, and Kakao Pay. With its vast user touchpoints based on KakaoTalk, along with an internet bank and payment and remittance platforms, there had been assessments that Kakao could theoretically pursue the business independently.<\/p>\n
Internally, however, it appears Kakao concluded that a financial network centered on KakaoBank alone would be insufficient to secure adequate competitiveness in the won coin market. The analysis is that, given the nature of internet banks, its corporate and institutional customer base is relatively weak, and cooperation with commercial banks is needed for foreign exchange and payment infrastructure as well as large-scale reserve asset management capabilities. Joining hands with a major bank could enhance credibility in the operator selection process and expand actual use cases. An official in the banking sector said, “For won coins, where and how often they are used is just as important as who issues them safely.” He added, “Ultimately, it is highly likely to become a structure in which banks and platforms each take on their respective strengths.”<\/p>\n
Kakao’s moves are seen as a major variable that could shake up the won coin market. Currently, Dunamu and the Naver-Hana Financial Group form one axis in the won coin market. There is also talk of a possible alliance between KB Financial and Toss. Depending on whether Kakao draws in a major bank to build a separate consortium or joins the so-called “KB alliance,” the future competitive landscape could change.<\/p>\n
Cryptocurrency market analysis firm Tiger Research also classified the Kakao Group as one of the key camps in the stablecoin field. Kim Jung-ho, a researcher at Tiger Research, said, “The largest camp is the Kakao Group.” He added, “It has formed a joint affiliate TF and is pushing to build a super wallet encompassing stablecoins, cryptocurrencies, and local currencies, and its infrastructure accumulated since its GroundX days, operating the Kaia public chain, is also a strength.”<\/p>\n
In the financial industry, there are also interpretations that Kakao’s moves show the competition for won coin leadership is shifting from a simple contest among issuers to a contest among ecosystems. This is because once won coins enter the regulated sphere, custody, payment, distribution, and securing use cases will inevitably become intertwined, not just the issuing entity and reserve asset management. The market expects that if discussions on legislating the Framework Act on Digital Assets, built around the introduction of won coins, gain momentum in the second half of this year, alliances and realignments among related companies will accelerate further.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Naver announced the previous day that it would acquire 179,999 shares of Naver Pay Pre-IPO (formerly Securities Plus Pre-IPO), an unlisted stock trading platform held by Dunamu, for 29.4 billion won. Once the transaction is completed, Naver’s holdings in Naver Pay Pre-IPO will increase to 216,734 shares. Its stake will become 34.04%.<\/p>\n
In the market, there are interpretations that the shareholder structure has been reorganized around Naver to support the operation of Naver Pay Pre-IPO. Naver Pay Pre-IPO has been operating under designation as an innovative financial service, but it must obtain a formal license this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kakao has begun discussions to form a consortium with banks for its won-denominated stablecoin business. As Naver builds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[622],"tags":[31038,31282,31039,827,21090,5255,31281,5030,31280],"class_list":["post-61921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kakao","tag-bnk-financial","tag-digital-assets-framework-act","tag-jb-financial","tag-kakao","tag-kakao-stablecoin","tag-kakaobank","tag-korea-stablecoin-market","tag-naver-pay","tag-won-coin-consortium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}