Industrial Bank of Korea and Shinhan Financial Group also join the KRW coin competition

IBK Industrial Bank and Shinhan Financial Group have jumped into the competition to issue Korean won stablecoins by applying for trademarks.

According to the financial industry on the 30th, IBK Industrial Bank applied for 10 trademarks on the 27th, including 'IBKKRW', 'IBKRW', and 'ONEIBK'. The trademarks were registered for purposes such as 'stablecoin electronic transfer business' and 'blockchain-based digital financial asset management business'. An IBK Industrial Bank official stated, "This is a preemptive measure to respond to the stablecoin market" and "We plan to strategically approach while closely monitoring the progress of legislation and market environment".



Shinhan Financial Group also applied for 21 stablecoin-related trademarks on the 26th, including 'KRWSHB', 'SFGKRW', and 'SHKRW'. The application items included 'cryptocurrency financial transaction business' and 'cryptocurrency brokerage business'. A Shinhan Bank official explained, "We have formed a task force (TF) to continue internal research on stablecoins".

Other commercial banks such as KB Kookmin, Hana Bank, Kakao Bank, and Toss Bank are also successively applying for related trademarks, creating an atmosphere of full-scale competition to secure the initiative for Korean won stablecoins. With fintech companies like Naver Financial and Kakao Pay, and even game companies like Nexus joining in, the territorial expansion competition has been ignited.

Discussions on stablecoin-related legislation are also gaining momentum. Democratic Party lawmaker Min Byung-deok proposed the 'Digital Asset Basic Law', which would allow non-financial companies like fintech to issue stablecoins if they have over 500 million won in equity. Members of the Democratic Party on the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee also plan to separately propose the 'Digital Asset Innovation Law' in July, raising the capital requirement to 1 billion won. In contrast, the Bank of Korea's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project has been temporarily suspended at the second experiment preparation stage as stablecoin legislation discussions gain traction.

Reporter Do Ye-ri