SBI and KB Kookmin Card Plot Crypto Payments for Tourists

South Korea's KB Kookmin Card and Japan's SBI Holdings have signed a four-party agreement to test artificial intelligence (AI) agent identity verification and explore stablecoin payments for Japanese tourists visiting South Korea. The memorandum of understanding (MOU), announced on October 13, also includes South Korean cybersecurity firm Everspin and the companies' joint venture SBI Everspin.

AI Agent Verification Anchors The Four-Party Agreement

Under the agreement, KB Kookmin Card and SBI Holdings will examine payment services connecting Japanese customers with South Korean merchants. One proposed service would allow Japanese travelers to use digital assets, including stablecoins, when purchasing goods or services during visits. The companies plan to study how payments could move through existing financial systems, covering settlements, cancellations and refunds. KB Kookmin Card will evaluate whether its KB Pay platform can support AI agents making payments on behalf of customers. The proposed system would verify user consent and check whether an automated agent has permission to complete transactions within predetermined spending limits. No commercial launch date or supported stablecoin has been announced.At the center of the partnership is KYA Trust Gateway, a security platform designed to establish the identity and permissions of AI agents. SBI Everspin conceived the technology and is developing the system with Everspin. Unlike traditional user authentication, the proposed process checks whether an AI agent has received permission from a specific person to perform designated tasks.

KB Kookmin Card Targets Secure Cross-Border Digital Payments

A KB Kookmin Card representative stated that the partnership would test the foundation needed for AI agents to operate securely across multiple services. The representative said the businesses would work together to provide customers in South Korea and Japan with secure cross-border digital payment experiences, edaily.co.kr reported.SBI Holdings said it would combine its financial services experience with the participating companies' AI and security technologies. The Japanese financial group expects the tests to provide information about possible commercial services, including stablecoin payments. Everspin reported approximately 25 billion cumulative cybersecurity threat detections across more than 150 financial institutions in South Korea and overseas, though the figures represent the company's broader operating statistics rather than results from the new KYA Trust Gateway platform.

Partnership Tests AI Agent Authority Across Jurisdictions

The agreement marks a shift from conventional cross-border payment models toward AI-mediated financial services between Japan and South Korea. Traditional travel payment services rely on card networks or currency exchange counters, both of which add intermediary costs and settlement delays.An AI agent framework introduces a different question: not just which currency a tourist spends, but whether an automated system can be trusted to spend it on their behalf across a foreign jurisdiction.The regulatory groundwork for AI agents conducting financial transactions across borders remains largely undeveloped. That makes the testing phase as much about identifying legal gaps as resolving technical ones, particularly around delegated authority and liability when an automated system initiates a payment in a foreign market.

SBI Expands Stablecoin Payment Tests Between Japan And South Korea

The agreement follows another cross-border stablecoin project involving SBI Group. On October 1, SBI DigiTrust announced a joint verification project with NICE Information & Telecommunication and blockchain infrastructure firm DSRV. That project tests QR code-based stablecoin payments for Japanese tourists at South Korean merchants. NICE operates payment infrastructure serving approximately 1.2 million merchants in South Korea. SBI DigiTrust expects to complete its QR-based stablecoin payment tests with NICE and DSRV by the end of December 2026. The KB Kookmin Card partnership has not disclosed a testing completion date or budget. Initial trials will focus on how AI agents operating from Japan authenticate themselves when accessing South Korean financial services, before subsequent phases examine delegated transaction authority and commercial readiness.