Kakao Pay与KakaoBank签署Fireblocks稳定币合作备忘录

Kakao Pay and KakaoBank signed a memorandum of understanding to explore South Korea's stablecin infrastructure and digital asset services

Kakao Pay and KakaoBank have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Fireblocks to jointly explore South Korea's stablecin infrastructure and other digital asset services. The three companies will conduct proof-of-concept tests to evaluate the digital asset framework that meets South Korea's regulatory, security and service requirements.

Cooperation details and goals

According to Fireblocks 'announcement on September 21, the three parties will test the digital asset distribution framework through a proof-of-concept project to ensure that it complies with South Korea's domestic regulatory requirements, security standards and service requirements. The agreement did not announce specific stablecoin issuance, investment amounts, commercial products or deployment dates.

The company plans to examine infrastructure needs and potential digital asset business opportunities before actually deciding to move forward with any framework. Fireblocks pointed out that secure on-chain infrastructure is the core technology area covered by the agreement, with stablecoins receiving special attention. Kakao Pay will bring payment experience advantages to the project, while Kakao Bank provides banking component support for the Kakao Group's digital asset work.

两家公司的首席执行官——Shin Won-keun和Yun Ho-young——被指定为Kakao集团稳定币工作组的联合负责人。KakaoBank首席执行官Yun表示，各方期望结合各自的技术与专业知识，“开发安全且易于访问的数字资产服务”。Kakao Pay首席执行官Shin指出，韩国正在发展的数字资产市场“依赖于可靠的数字资产分发流动”。

技术背景与基础设施能力

目前，尚无单一的技术设计方案被公开选定。Fireblocks表示，各方将在进行测试之前，评估符合韩国国内规则和安全标准的分发框架。Fireblocks平台已部署在超过2,500家机构中，其中包括100多家银行。其技术支持托管、结算、稳定币支付、代币化、交易及合规操作，覆盖超过200条区块链网络。

据Fireblocks网站发布的独立数据显示，其网络通过300多家支付服务提供商、金融科技公司及银行，每月处理的稳定币交易量超过2000亿美元。这些数据为Fireblocks自身的平台统计信息，并未作为Kakao的交易量进行披露。

Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov said the infrastructure of South Korea's banks and payment platforms needs to be "engineered to meet institutional requirements from the beginning." The statement accompanied the release of the memorandum of understanding and covered the types of systems being studied by Fireblocks 'expected partners. According to the process announced by both parties, proof-of-concept testing will be conducted before any announced commercial deployments, and the agreement does not clarify whether Kakao Pay or KakaoBank will commit to using Fireblocks in production environments.

Previous cooperation with Circle

The agreement with Fireblocks was signed after Kakao Group reached a cooperation agreement with Circle in July this year. At the time, Kakao, Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank planned to work with Circle to study Korean Won (KRW)-based digital assets, cross-border payments, and tokenized financial services.

Under Circle's arrangement, Kakao said it will integrate its consumer platform network, Kakao Pay's payment services, Kakao Bank's banking services, and Circle's blockchain technology, focusing on payment and settlement infrastructure, remittances, and the connection of blockchain networks to existing financial systems. However, under the July memorandum of understanding, no stablecoins denominated in won were launched. Reports at the time pointed out that Kakao and Circle had not set a release date or confirmed a specific issuance model, while Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire had made it clear that Circle did not plan to issue its own Korean won stablecoin.

新的Fireblocks协议引入了另一家基础设施提供商进入Kakao集团的稳定币研究行列，但这并非取代或终止与Circle的合作关系。Fireblocks的公告未描述Circle在新概念验证中的角色，也未说明这两种合作关系是否会共享技术。

韩国稳定币监管环境

Kakao并非唯一一家在最终规则出台前测试稳定币系统的韩国金融机构。相关报道显示，KB金融集团已于5月完成了涵盖韩元计价稳定币发行、离线二维码支付、商户结算及越南汇款测试的概念验证。Toss随后在7月进行了另一项试验，与Optimism和Sunnyside Labs合作，开展了为期三个月的技术项目，审查与韩元挂钩稳定币相关的支付结算、合规及隐私要求。

法律框架的建设仍在进行中。韩国金融委员会（FSC）表示，其计划的数字资产框架法将包括稳定币内容，监管机构仍在准备涵盖基于区块链的金融基础设施的规则。今年8月，FSC表示政府第二阶段数字资产立法的讨论仍在进行中，并警告称某些报道的条款尚未最终确定。监管机构特别驳斥了关于主要加密货币交易所股东所有权上限提议已达成一致的说法。

韩国银行（BOK）于9月17日发布的支付系统报告指出，随着《虚拟资产用户保护法》生效，央行已成立数字资产研究部。韩国银行表示，该部门参与了有关韩元计价稳定币的立法讨论，协助国家构建数字资产框架。