MoonPay has officially entered South Korea with the launch of MoonPay Korea and new partnerships with three major Korean financial institutions: Woori Bank, KB Financial Group, and KakaoBank. The initiative, unveiled at a launch event in Seoul on September 29, aims to build won stablecoin distribution, cross-border payments, and digital asset infrastructure.
The company, which has processed more than $45 billion in cumulative transaction volume, will work with the banks on stablecoin issuance, fiat on-and-off ramps, wallets, and overseas remittance settlement. Finger, acquired by MoonPay in April 2026, will provide part of the technical connection between MoonPay and Korean banking systems.
Korean banks are already testing stablecoin payment rails. In May, KB Financial tested stablecoin payments covering issuance, offline QR payments, merchant settlement, and an overseas remittance to Vietnam that completed in under three minutes. Reported fees were roughly 87% lower than a conventional SWIFT-based transfer. Under the new collaboration, KB Kookmin Bank will examine on-and-off ramp infrastructure, wallet integration, stablecoin distribution, and overseas settlement services, while KB Kookmin Card will focus on a model allowing foreign visitors to spend digital assets at Korean merchants.
Woori Bank will combine its won-based financial infrastructure with MoonPay's international distribution network for business-to-business payments. KakaoBank is working with MoonPay on a separate cross-border remittance structure designed to process a student's transfer from Korea to a US bank account in under an hour. In that flow, KakaoBank handles screening and currency exchange in Korea, while MoonPay converts digital assets overseas and deposits dollars into a local US account.
MoonPay co-founder and head of Asia Lee Boo-gun described Korea as uniquely positioned because it pairs strong demand for virtual assets with developed digital payment infrastructure. The company plans to pursue virtual asset service provider registration and connect its services directly with domestic financial systems rather than limiting its role to API and SDK delivery.
The rollout is happening before South Korea finalizes second-stage digital asset legislation. The Financial Services Commission expects the Digital Asset Framework Act review to reach a National Assembly subcommittee in November, with stablecoin rules covering issuer eligibility and supervision still under development. The Bank of Korea has favored an initial model led by regulated banks, arguing that stablecoin issuance could affect monetary policy and financial stability.
MoonPay serves more than 32 million verified users and works with over 1,500 partners, supporting more than 120 fiat currencies and 170 payment methods. Chief Legal Officer Caroline Pham described the company at the Seoul event as an operating system of value spanning funding, tokenization, trading, and spending. The Korean partnerships remain in pilot and proof-of-concept stages pending final regulatory requirements, including real-name verified account mandates for won deposits and withdrawals.
