South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group, one of the nation's top five financial conglomerates, has announced a collaboration with global payments giant Visa to test core stablecoin functions including issuance, remittance, and redemption using Visa's stablecoin platform, alongside the joint development of AI-driven payment models. This initiative marks the first time a leading Korean financial group has formally adopted Visa's enterprise-grade stablecoin infrastructure.

Under the agreement, both parties will co-design business models tailored specifically for the Korean market, with pilot projects covering the integration of stablecoin and card payment settlements as well as the expansion of B2B and B2C payment solutions. Shinhan's Chairman, Jin Ok-dong, stated that the group aims to combine its financial capabilities with Visa's global infrastructure to craft innovative future financial models.

This deal positions Visa ahead of rival Mastercard in the realm of bank-native stablecoin settlement infrastructure in South Korea. Prior to this, Mastercard's crypto partnerships in the country had not encompassed full stablecoin settlement integration. Visa's corporate stablecoin platform was launched in July of this year, and Shinhan plans to utilize it to test a complete domestic settlement system.

The collaboration comes as South Korea advances its legislative process for the Digital Assets Basic Act, a bill that covers a broad framework including stablecoins, licensing for virtual asset service providers, and crypto exchange-traded funds. Shinhan Financial Group, which manages approximately 134 trillion Korean won (about $100 billion) in assets, has been steadily expanding its footprint in the digital asset space. Earlier this month, its asset management division signed a four-party agreement with the Solana Foundation, Etherfuse, and Orca to test Korean won-denominated tokenized funds. Additionally, Shinhan had already piloted a stablecoin payment system with Solana back in April of this year.