South Korea’s Oldest Bank Completes Stablecoin Trial On Hedera Network

Shinhan Bank, one of the oldest banks in South Korea, has announced the successful completion of a stablecoin remittance test on Hedera’s open-source public network. This trial was carried out in collaboration with Siam Commercial Bank’s technology innovation business unit (SCB TechX), Taiwan’s largest financial institution, and other financial companies.

Shinhan Bank Concludes Second Stablecoin Pilot

On Tuesday, Shinhan Bank, SCB TechX, and other financial institutions disclosed that the proof-of-concept (PoC) test for stablecoin remittance payments was successful. This trial comes as a follow-up effort by Shinhan Bank after their initial partnership with Standard Bank on stablecoin international remittances in 2021.

This PoC pilot, executed using Hedera’s distributed ledger technology (DLT), was aimed at addressing cross-border payment issues, such as high fees, prolonged settlement times, and tracking problems.

The trial achieved real-time settlement and foreign exchange (FX) rate integration across the Thai Baht (THB), New Taiwan Dollar (NTD), and South Korean Won (SKW), according to a Hedera media release.

Furthermore, Hedera claims that the PoC is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This means that EVM-based stablecoin issuers, like Circle and Tether, can partake in subsequent pilots using the same framework.

Shinhan Bank’s Chief of the Blockchain division, Byung Hee Kim, expressed the bank’s pleasure in having the opportunity to explore the potential of stablecoins as a means of cross-border payments.

“The successful completion of this second PoC marks an important step forward in our efforts to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper, and more accessible to people around the world,” he added.

Shinhan Bank continues to lean towards the cryptocurrency industry, with modern blockchain initiatives and solutions. As far back as 2019, the Seoul-headquartered bank partnered with two fintech companies to build a blockchain-based security solution.

With traditional finance (TradFi) institutions, like Shinhan Bank, further adopting blockchain technology and introducing new solutions in 2023, the South Korean crypto industry looks set to continue on its ascent.

South Korea Takes Clear Stance On Crypto Industry

Following the collapses that rocked the cryptocurrency industry in 2022, the South Korean government has been formulating and releasing stricter rules to regulate the crypto landscape in the country.

In its latest move, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) published a new bill that requires all companies that issue or hold crypto assets to reveal their holdings. This new rule is expected to become effective starting from January 1, 2024.

The range of virtual assets to be declared includes fungible tokens based on DLT and similar encryption technology, or those issued using cryptography. According to the commission, this mandatory public disclosure is a measure to boost transparency and investor confidence in the South Korean crypto scene.

Crypto Total Market Cap at $1.16 trillion | Source: TOTAL chart from TradingView