MoonPay Storms Into South Korea With a Bold New Play

MoonPay has launched MoonPay Korea and signed partnerships with three Korean financial institutions to build a won stablecoin distribution, cross-border payments, and digital asset infrastructure. The company, which has processed more than $45 billion in cumulative transaction volume, unveiled the strategy at an official launch event in Seoul on September 29.Woori Bank, KB Financial Group, and KakaoBank will work with MoonPay on stablecoin issuance, fiat on-and-off ramps, wallets, and overseas remittance settlement. Finger, which MoonPay acquired in April 2026, will provide part of the technical connection between MoonPay and Korean banking systems.

Korean Banks Are Already Testing Won Stablecoin Rails

The partnerships arrive as Korean banks actively pilot the services MoonPay wants to plug into its global network. KB Financial tested stablecoin payments in May, covering issuance, offline QR payments, merchant settlement, and an overseas remittance to Vietnam that completed in under three minutes. Reported fees were roughly 87% lower than a conventional SWIFT-based transfer. KB Kookmin Bank will now examine on-and-off ramp infrastructure, wallet integration, stablecoin distribution, and overseas settlement services with MoonPay. KB Kookmin Card will focus on a model allowing foreign visitors to spend digital assets at Korean merchants. Woori Bank's role centers on combining its won-based financial infrastructure with MoonPay's international distribution network for business-to-business payments.

MoonPay Calls Korea a Launchpad for Asian Expansion

MoonPay co-founder and head of Asia Lee Boo-gun described the Korean market as uniquely positioned because it pairs strong demand for virtual assets with a developed digital payment infrastructure.Lee said the company would pursue virtual asset service provider registration and connect its services directly with domestic financial systems rather than limiting its role to application programming interface (API) and software development kit (SDK) delivery."Korea has an opportunity to develop new financial services and increase the efficiency of existing services because it has both demand for virtual assets and digital payment infrastructure," Lee said at the Seoul event, according to Maeil Business Newspaper.KakaoBank is working with MoonPay on a separate cross-border remittance structure designed to process a student's transfer from Korea to a US bank account in under an hour. MoonPay Korea strategy director Choi Han-kyul outlined a flow in which KakaoBank handles screening and currency exchange in Korea while MoonPay converts digital assets overseas and deposits dollars into a local US account.

Stablecoin Rules Are Still Being Written

MoonPay is building its Korean operation before South Korea finalizes second-stage digital asset legislation. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) expects the Digital Asset Framework Act review to reach a National Assembly subcommittee in November, with stablecoin rules covering issuer eligibility and supervision still under development. The Bank of Korea has favored an initial model led by regulated banks, arguing that issuing stablecoins could affect monetary policy and financial stability. MoonPay serves more than 32 million verified users and works with over 1,500 partners. Its network supports more than 120 fiat currencies and 170 payment methods. Chief Legal Officer Caroline Pham described the company at the Seoul event as an "operating system of value" spanning funding, tokenization, trading, and spending. The FSC's Digital Asset Framework Act review is expected to reach an assembly subcommittee in November 2026. MoonPay's partnerships remain in pilot and proof-of-concept stages pending final regulatory requirements, including real-name verified account mandates for won deposits and withdrawals.