South Korea’s merchants pay a lot to accept credit cards. A new government analysis says stablecoins could fix that, to the tune of billions of dollars per year.
The country’s National Assembly Budget Office published a study on September 8 projecting that won-denominated stablecoins could slash merchant payment fees by 370 billion won ($275 million) to 5.15 trillion won ($3.8 billion) annually. The wide range depends on how aggressively merchants adopt the technology and how dramatically fee structures change.
The fee gap that makes this possible
Traditional card transaction fees in South Korea run about 1.3% to 1.5% per swipe. Stablecoin-based payments could bring that down to 0.1% to 0.3%.
The study focused specifically on won-denominated stablecoins rather than the dollar-pegged tokens that currently dominate global markets. As of July 2026, dollar-linked stablecoins comprised 98.8% of the total global stablecoin market, which stood at approximately $312.3 billion.
Two regulators, two visions
The Budget Office’s analysis didn’t just project savings. It also flagged real risks: potential bank deposit outflows that could undermine credit intermediation, and peg instability during large-scale redemptions.
Those risks are fueling a significant disagreement between South Korea’s two main financial regulators. The Bank of Korea wants stablecoin issuers to be bank-controlled, advocating for a minimum 50%-plus-one ownership structure that would keep traditional financial institutions firmly in the driver’s seat. The Financial Services Commission takes a different view, pushing for broader participation that would let more innovative players into the game.
The proposed Digital Asset Basic Act, which would establish a comprehensive framework for stablecoins and other digital assets, remains under legislative review. Until that legislation resolves the tug-of-war between the Bank of Korea and the FSC, won-denominated stablecoins exist more as a policy concept than a market reality.
The $312.3 billion global stablecoin market has been built almost entirely on dollar-denominated tokens. A serious push toward won-denominated stablecoins backed by government policy would test whether stablecoin utility can extend beyond the dollar ecosystem that has defined the sector so far.