The Korean won-pegged stablecoin KRWQ has officially launched on Solana, marking a significant step in bringing non-USD stablecoin liquidity to high-performance trading venues. The deployment was announced by IQ, the company behind the token in partnership with Frax, following KRWQ's institutional listing on EDX Markets in March.
Why Solana was chosen
Dave Shin, Chief Operating Officer of KRWQ, emphasized that Solana's low-latency execution and deep liquidity were critical factors. "Solana provides the performance and ecosystem depth needed to scale KRW liquidity onchain. We are seeing clear demand for non-USD trading pairs, particularly in derivatives," he said. The Layer 1 network will support a range of KRW-denominated applications including perpetual futures, onchain FX markets, arbitrage strategies, and cross-margin trading between Korean won and USD stablecoins.
From Base to Solana: the journey so far
KRWQ initially launched on Base in October last year, then gained exposure through EDX Markets, where it was listed across spot and perpetual markets. That move introduced Korean won perpetual futures via EDXM International and gave institutional traders onchain access to won liquidity. The team highlighted that daily KRW spot volume sits around $40 billion, while the offshore KRW Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) market accounts for approximately $60 billion—liquidity that KRWQ aims to unify onchain.
Compliance and reserves
KRWQ maintains a one-to-one peg through segregated fiat reserves and short-dated tokenized assets. Minting and redemption are limited to approved counterparties, and the project uses LayerZero’s OFT standard for cross-chain transfers. Notably, the token is not marketed to South Korean residents while the country develops stablecoin rules under the Digital Asset Basic Act.
