Toss Targets Stablecoin Issuance, Distribution Infrastructure

Toss team lead Heo Won-young stated on the 16th that the company aims to build a full-stack payment and remittance infrastructure encompassing both stablecoin issuance and distribution, according to remarks made at the Ethereum Korea One (EK1) panel discussion held in Seoul’s Gangnam-gu. The panel, titled “Institutional Adoption In-Depth Analysis: Stablecoins,” addressed regulatory shifts and market signals driving institutional exploration of stablecoin business models, with user experience improvement identified as a critical challenge.

Panel Discussion and Participants

The discussion took place on the 16th at DSRV headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Panelists included Kang Hee-chang (Populus Product Lead, moderator), Lee Han-gil (Kakao Bank Stablecoin Task Force Lead), Kim Hyo-seop (Danalfintech Researcher), and Heo Won-young (Toss Team Lead).

Institutional Stablecoin Strategies

Toss Full-Stack Infrastructure Approach

Heo Won-young explained that Toss is pursuing a comprehensive business model covering both issuance and distribution of stablecoins. He noted that “stablecoins are expanding beyond simple investment and trading tools into actual payment and daily financial services,” and that “regulatory environments across countries are moving toward institutional integration, prompting serious examination.”

Kakao Bank Task Force Initiative

Lee Han-gil disclosed that the Kakao group has adopted stablecoin as a core agenda through a company-wide task force. He stated that “from a platform finance perspective, stablecoins are viewed as an essential area to accommodate,” with current research focused on “structures that ensure stability at the issuance stage.”

Danalfintech Infrastructure Role

Kim Hyo-seop emphasized Danalfintech’s role as an infrastructure provider, building on the company’s existing payment business experience. He stated that “the core of stablecoin business is not issuance but seamlessly connecting payment and settlement,” and that Danalfintech is “currently preparing a stablecoin-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform.”

Key Implementation Challenges

Regulatory Barriers for Banks

Lee Han-gil identified regulation as the largest entry barrier for banking institutions. He noted that “the domestic environment operates under whitelist-based regulation, creating many constraints,” but emphasized the importance of “proactively preparing risk management and compliance capabilities in anticipation of regulatory relaxation.” He added that “banks, as symbols of risk management, must prioritize ‘not making mistakes’ over ‘doing well.’”

Settlement Infrastructure Redesign

Kim Hyo-seop identified settlement infrastructure redesign as a core success condition. He explained that “while payment itself is technically implementable, the problem is settlement,” requiring “integrated infrastructure encompassing won settlement connections, real-time currency exchange, liquidity provision, and accounting processing.” He also noted that meeting regulatory requirements including domestic financial real-name systems, anti-money laundering (AML), and travel rules represents “an important hurdle.”

User Experience Improvement

Heo Won-young cited user experience enhancement as a critical challenge. He stated that “for stablecoin payments to become mainstream, complex elements like wallets, gas fees, and networks must all be hidden from users,” and that “during the transitional period where traditional finance rails and stablecoin rails coexist, routing capability—automatically selecting optimal payment paths—is important.”

Future Opportunities

Cross-border remittance emerged as a commonly identified promising use case. Lee Han-gil stated that “blockchain can connect financially separated national networks,” with “constructing a fast and inexpensive overseas remittance system that users can experience” as the core objective.

However, Kim Hyo-seop cautioned that “while stablecoin-based cross-border remittance presents significant opportunity, regulatory risks suggest widespread adoption will not be easy in the short term.”