Invest2 publishers2 min readPublished
Kakao brings 43 million registered users to a non-binding stablecoin deal with Fireblocks
Kakao Pay and KakaoBank signed a non-binding memorandum with Fireblocks for stablecoin infrastructure, the second such agreement Kakao has signed since July, while KB Financial and Toss have already run won-stablecoin pilots.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank signed a memorandum of understanding with Fireblocks to explore building secure digital asset infrastructure in South Korea, with stablecoins at the center of the plans.
- Cointelegraph reported that the announcement did not include a launch, investment or implementation timeline.
- The Fireblocks agreement follows a separate memorandum Kakao signed in July 2026 with Circle, the USDC issuer, on blockchain-based payments and stablecoin development.
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Why it matters
- constraint With the Korean framework unfinished, the strongest thing a partner can verify is sponsorship, not a contract, so due diligence on this deal comes down to who signed.
- decision Kakao has chosen to buy both halves of the stack. It is not funding an in-house issuer or building its own custody engineering, and two vendors now sit between it and its own users.
- capability If the proof of concept converts, Fireblocks reaches an installed base equal to about 84% of Korea's population without acquiring a single user of its own.
- precedent KB Financial's finished pilot and Toss's proof of concept make it likelier that any Korean licensing regime arrives with the incumbent platforms already integrated and their designs already in the room.
South Korea is still developing its regulatory framework for digital assets, according to Cointelegraph [15]. Kakao Pay, a payments operator, and KakaoBank, one of the country's largest internet-only banks, are signing paper against a rulebook that does not exist yet [18]. The memorandum commits the three parties to evaluate distribution frameworks and to run proof-of-concept tests fitted to Korean regulatory, security and service requirements [3].
Set the two Kakao memoranda side by side and the shape is a rented stack. Circle, the USDC issuer, agreed in July 2026 to explore blockchain-based payments and stablecoin development with Kakao Group, and Cointelegraph reported that the collaboration covered won-denominated stablecoins and related services [11][12]. Fireblocks supplies custody, transfer and settlement [5]. Cryptobriefing read the pair as Kakao assembling a full stack, one partner for the asset and another for the infrastructure to move it [19].
Infrastructure is the commodity half. Fireblocks counts more than 2,500 institutions and over 100 banks as clients, and Cryptobriefing reported its platform has secured trillions of dollars in cumulative transactions across that base [5][6]. Distribution is the half Kakao owns: 43 million registered Kakao Pay users divided by a population of roughly 51 million is 84% [7][8][9]. Registered accounts are not unique adults.
On the public record, Kakao is not first. KB Financial Group completed a won-denominated stablecoin pilot in May covering issuance, offline merchant payments and cross-border remittances [13]. Toss ran a proof of concept on won-based stablecoin payment infrastructure with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs in July [14]. Kakao's Fireblocks agreement begins at the proof-of-concept stage in September [3][2].
Kakao Group set up a Stablecoin Task Force in 2025 with two chief executives as co-heads, Shin Won-keun of Kakao Pay and Yun Ho-young of KakaoBank [10]. Cryptobriefing reported that Shin expressed optimism the Fireblocks partnership would meaningfully enhance digital asset services in the region [16]. The same report said Fireblocks chief executive Michael Shaulov pointed to regulatory adaptability and the push toward innovative financial services as reasons for engaging in the Korean market [17].
Two non-binding memoranda in as many months, with two chief executives' names on the task force, is an option on a rule still being written [2][11]. The counter-argument is that the license is the scarce input in this market. Being integrated with a vendor that already serves over 100 banks when the rules land may beat being first through a pilot, and 43 million accounts make Kakao the distribution partner competitors have to price against [5][7]. I would take the option reading until a commercial contract replaces a memorandum.
What to watch
- Whether Korea's pending digital asset framework lets a payments platform distribute a won-denominated stablecoin it does not issue.
- Whether KB Financial's completed May pilot reaches live merchants before Kakao's Fireblocks proof of concept begins.
- Whether Circle or Fireblocks discloses a fee arrangement or Korean revenue tied to either Kakao memorandum.