Blockchain protocol Sui has announced a strategic partnership with South Korea's leading point-of-sale (POS) and ordering platform, t’order, to develop a nationwide stablecoin payments infrastructure. This collaboration targets the food and retail sectors, aiming to replace or supplement conventional card-based payments with a fast, low-cost won-pegged stablecoin deployed on the Sui blockchain.
t’order operates over 300,000 POS devices across South Korea, handling a monthly transaction volume of $350 million (approximately $4.3 billion annually). The initiative seeks to reduce payment processing fees for small businesses—currently ranging from 0.8% to 2.5% per card transaction—to a flat rate of about 13 Korean won per transaction, potentially saving merchants between 58 billion and 150 billion KRW annually. Payment confirmation times will be slashed from 2–3 seconds to under 0.5 seconds, leveraging Sui's high-throughput blockchain for near-instant settlements.
The stablecoin, pegged to the South Korean won (KRW), will be integrated with advanced user interfaces like QR codes and facial recognition technology to ensure seamless transactions. All data will be recorded via Walrus, a decentralized storage protocol on Sui, enhancing transparency and security. Austin Kwon, CEO of t’order, emphasized the cost and efficiency benefits, while Christian Thompson, Managing Director of the Sui Foundation, highlighted the alignment with South Korea's digital transformation goals. The partnership occurs amid pending stablecoin legislation from the Korean government, which could shape future regulatory compliance.