Shinhan Partners with Visa to Pilot Won Stablecoin Payments and Settlement Infrastructure

Shinhan taps Visa to build stablecoin payments and settlement rails as Korea eyes regulatory framework South Korea’s Shinhan Financial Group has deepened its push into digital finance by signing a strategic agreement with Visa to develop stablecoin-based payment and settlement infrastructure. The collaboration will initially focus on designing and testing the technical plumbing to issue, transfer and redeem stablecoins using Visa’s existing stablecoin platform — with the ultimate aim of building services tailored to South Korea’s financial system and regulatory environment. What they’ll test - The partners will run end-to-end pilots covering the stablecoin lifecycle: issuance, remittance and redemption, using Visa’s platform to verify each step before adapting services for local rules. - Payment settlement is a key target: Shinhan and Visa plan joint pilots that incorporate stablecoins into card settlement flows. - The partnership will also explore AI-driven payment models and new business and consumer payment services. Who’s involved Shinhan said it will pull several core subsidiaries into the work, including Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card and Jeju Bank. Visa will provide its international payments network and digital payment technology to help shape new financial models and customer services. Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong framed the deal as an expansion of the companies’ long-standing relationship into “the broader digital finance sector.” How this fits into Shinhan’s broader blockchain push The Visa partnership builds on a string of experiments and strategic deals Shinhan has already pursued across payments, tokenized funds and institutional blockchain networks: - April: Shinhan Card ran a Solana-based proof-of-concept with the Solana Foundation to simulate stablecoin transactions between customers and merchants on Solana testnet, testing transaction performance, non-custodial wallet security and a hybrid structure linking traditional payments and DeFi tools. Oracle feeds were used to trigger smart contracts while preserving monitoring and governance. That trial also connected Shinhan to a government program testing tokenized bank deposits for public spending in Sejong City (expected Q4 2026). - August: Shinhan’s asset management arm signed an MOU with the Solana Foundation, Etherfuse and DEX Orca to pilot a Korean won–denominated tokenized fund, adding tokenized investment products to its blockchain roadmap. - June: Shinhan Asset Management and Shinhan Investment & Securities agreed with the Canton Foundation to study tokenized financial products, compliance with Korean digital-asset rules, and routes for offering Korean assets to global investors using Canton Network — an institutional, permissioned blockchain designed for regulated financial institutions. - July: Shinhan and Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures invested in Digital Asset’s private fundraising round (adding $10 million), bringing total financing to $365 million. Digital Asset is the firm behind the Canton Network. Visa’s previous blockchain work with Canton Visa has separately tested stablecoin settlement on Canton Network, working with Brale’s SBC stablecoin to explore whether institutions can settle on-chain while keeping sensitive payment details private. That background positions Visa well for the Shinhan collaboration, which looks to bridge institutional compliance needs and blockchain settlement efficiency. Regulatory backdrop in South Korea The partnership arrives while South Korean regulators continue to negotiate a comprehensive legal framework for digital assets. Lawmakers are progressing a Digital Asset Basic Act that would set rules for stablecoins, service providers, disclosures, internal controls and cross-border stablecoin transactions. The Bank of Korea has pushed for a bank-led approach to won-backed stablecoin issuance — favoring consortiums of regulated financial institutions in the initial phase — and has proposed a statutory oversight body to coordinate regulators and agencies. Industry groups have proposed interim licensing guidance. A July 29 policy report from Hashed Open Research and the Solana Policy Institute suggested a compromise in which banks retain majority ownership of issuing consortiums while fintechs manage operational aspects. The Financial Services Commission has indicated it will work on a consolidated Digital Asset Basic Act, potentially combining multiple bills into a government-backed framework in 2026. Central bank and tokenization experiments Shinhan Bank is also part of central bank tokenization experiments: in the Bank for International Settlements’ Project Agora, Shinhan and NongHyup Bank participated in a domestic test that transferred 20 million won in tokenized central bank reserves. The Bank of Korea issued, transferred and redeemed the tokenized funds on the project’s platform. Why this matters The Visa–Shinhan tie-up signals that traditional financial institutions and major payments networks are accelerating efforts to move stablecoins beyond isolated blockchain trials into interoperable payment and settlement infrastructure that meets regulatory and compliance needs. For Shinhan, the work dovetails with its growing digital-asset footprint — from payments and tokenized deposits to tokenized funds and institutional blockchain partnerships — and follows a quarter in which the group reported net income of 1.82 trillion won (roughly $1.3 billion). Next steps Expect technical pilots and regulatory engagement over the coming months as the partners test stablecoin lifecycle processes and card-settlement use cases, while South Korea continues to refine the legal regime that will shape how won-backed stablecoins can be issued and used domestically and cross-border.