[Op-Ed] The Common Language of an Autonomous Economy: Stablecoins in the AI Era and South Korea's Strategic Choices

Seojun Kim, CEO of Hashed

The current discourse and concerns surrounding stablecoins are reminiscent of the mid-1990s when the internet first emerged. Many at the time viewed the internet simply as an "email system" or a "digital library," considering it merely a digital version of existing systems. But the internet was a revolution that changed the operating system of human civilization beyond being a mere information delivery tool.

The way people view stablecoins today is similar. Many understand them roughly as a "digital won." They dismiss them as an existing currency uploaded to a blockchain — a faster, more convenient means of remittance. But this misunderstands the essence of stablecoins. Stablecoins are the common language of an autonomous economy where AI and humans coexist, and a key infrastructure of the coming civilizational shift. This article discusses, from that perspective, changes in economic agents, the limits of traditional finance, the evolution of technical standards, global competition, and South Korea's strategic choices.

Fundamental shift of economic agents and the need for digital infrastructure

As of 2025, we stand at one of the most radical inflection points in economic history. For the first time, non-human entities are emerging as independent economic agents. To understand this, consider a simple analogy. In the past, only humans could take a taxi to a destination. Now autonomous vehicles go to gas stations to refuel, go to car washes, and pay tolls. The vehicle has become an "economic agent."

OpenAI's ChatGPT generated annual revenue of $2.7 billion in 2024 and handles over 1 billion conversations per day. This is not simply a tool doing work. AI provides services autonomously and receives compensation — in other words, it engages in economic activity. Tesla's autonomous driving AI collects and sells real-time driving data, contributing a significant portion of the automobile segment's $97 billion in 2024 revenue. DeepMind's AlphaFold sells access to databases essential for drug discovery through protein structure prediction. Like a doctor charging for consultations, AI is receiving payment for its expertise.

A common problem these AI systems face is how to exchange economic value. Traditional banking systems were designed centered on humans. Identity verification, signatures, and decision-making all assume a human. Imagine an AI walking into a bank counter saying, "Hello, I am ChatGPT. I want to open an account." Under current systems, that's impossible. AI cannot hold a passport, visit a bank counter, or sign documents.

These limitations are not merely technical. A recent McKinsey report suggests up to 30% of total work hours could be automated by AI by 2030. This is not simply a matter of efficiency. It is a civilizational transition requiring a fundamental redesign of economic systems. Just as currency evolved from shells to metal coins to paper money and credit cards during the shift from agrarian to industrial society, the AI era demands a new value-exchange mechanism.

In October 2025, the U.S. labor market vividly reflected this trend. Layoffs reached 153,000 people, the largest since 2003, and UPS cut 34,000 employees while reporting record profits, causing its stock to surge 12%. This is akin to the introduction of tractors in agricultural societies that replaced hundreds of farmers with a single machine. Markets reward efficiency, and layoffs are treated as signals of value creation. AI and automation increase productivity, but the profits do not flow to workers; they change the value system of the whole.

Structural limits of traditional financial systems and the need for public infrastructure

Traditional financial systems have fundamental limits that cannot accommodate these changes. First, they are centralized. Every transaction must pass through a bank — a "traffic light." If the bank closes, transactions stop, and crossing borders requires complex procedures. In contrast, AI runs 24/7, does not recognize borders, and transacts at microsecond speeds. It's like a car that runs nonstop having to wait for a traffic light to turn green — an inefficiency.

Second, identity verification systems are problematic. KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations assume humans. It's like requiring an eye exam and written test to get a driver's license — standards that cannot apply to AI. How do you verify an AI's "identity"? If an AI commits a crime, who goes to prison? Current systems cannot answer these questions.

Third, there are limits in value measurement. Traditional finance was designed around tangible assets like factories, land, and buildings. Yet in 2024, 90% of S&P 500 company value was intangible assets. In 1975 that ratio was only 17%. It's like moving from an era of measuring weight on a scale to suddenly needing to measure ideas or brand value. Netflix's value is in its recommendation algorithm, not DVD warehouses; Google's value is in search technology, not servers.

Moreover, new assets requiring real-time measurement and instant settlement are emerging, such as carbon credits. It's like measuring and trading air quality in real time. PwC forecasts the carbon market could reach $250 billion by 2030. How will copyrights for AI-generated content be traded? What is the value of an individual's health data? What about one second of computing power? Traditional finance lacks a language to express these. Like the transition from DOS to Windows, moving from simple command processing to complex multitasking and object-oriented systems surpasses imagination. Today Netflix processing tens of millions of data points simultaneously to provide personalized recommendations was inconceivable in the DOS era.

Convergence of technical standards: protocols of digital civilization

To overcome these limits, new technical standards are rapidly developing. Among them, Coinbase's x402 protocol announced last May is an interesting experiment. Still in its early stages, it is notable as an attempt to enable autonomous economic activities of AI agents. This protocol extends the HTTP 402 (Payment Required) status code to seek a standardized way for AI to make payments directly on the web. While the original 402 code simply conveyed "Payment Required," x402 suggests a direction where AI can pay immediately and access services.

The significance of x402 lies less in technical completeness and more in the vision it presents. Imagine a future in which AI can make "economic judgments." For example, an AI research agent searching academic papers encountering a paywalled journal could use such a protocol to instantly calculate cost versus value and automatically pay subscription fees. This could be the first step toward giving AI autonomy comparable to a human researcher deciding, "Do I need this paper for my study?"

If this vision is realized, what would it look like? AI journalists could access data sources in real time and write articles, automatically accessing Bloomberg or Reuters paid data via protocols like x402. More interestingly, these AIs might acquire "budget management" capabilities: setting monthly budgets, prioritizing spending by importance, and substituting free sources when funds run low.

We can even imagine an economic ecosystem among AIs. A translation AI could pay to access a specialized terminology database, and the AI maintaining that database could use the received revenue to collect more data, creating a virtuous cycle. AIs could provide services to one another and receive compensation, forming an autonomous economy.

The medical field offers especially innovative possibilities. An AI diagnostic support system diagnosing a rare disease could, via protocols like x402, instantly access global specialist medical databases. The more complex the patient's symptoms, the more data sources the AI would access, evaluating reliability and cost in real time to derive the optimal diagnosis. All this could occur within seconds with costs settled automatically.

Coinbase's x402 experiment ultimately aims to create an "operating system for the AI economy." Though still early, it explores whether AI can evolve into fully autonomous economic agents that generate revenue, purchase necessary resources, and collaborate with other AIs. If successful, we would enter a true autonomous economy era. The x402 standard has drawn explosive interest from developers and spawned diverse ecosystems; since last October it has processed 15 million inter-AI payments totaling $10 million.

Of course, experimental protocols like x402 alone are insufficient. For AI economic activity to be fully autonomous, a reliable store of value and transaction infrastructure are needed. Here blockchain technology plays a central role. The evolution of blockchain is particularly noteworthy. Combined with ERC-4337 (Account Abstraction), which has become a standard across ecosystems including Ethereum, AI agents can hold independent wallets and program complex payment conditions. Put simply, this gives AI "allowance management" capabilities. In a Google and Visa joint prototype, an AI set and enforced rules such as "spend up to 1,000,000 won per month, only transact with verified merchants, and automatically request refunds if there's an issue."

ERC-6551 is even more innovative. This standard allows each digital asset to have its own wallet. For example, a digital artwork could manage its own revenue, collect exhibition fees, and pay insurance. Yuga Labs' Bored Ape NFT already manages licensing revenue with its own wallet — like a magical world from Harry Potter where artworks move and manage themselves.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has also joined the change. ISO 24165 provides standards for digital token identification, and ISO 20022 is becoming the basis for financial message exchange among AI systems. The Swiss National Bank and the BIS are experimenting with digital currency using these standards. Traditional financial institutions have begun to recognize the need to build infrastructure suited for the AI economy age.

The development of these technical standards is not merely technological innovation. It triggers a new form of competition among nations. Securing technical standards and building an economy based on them will determine future economic hegemony.

Global competition: hegemony of digital infrastructure

Major countries view stablecoins as core infrastructure for the next-generation economy. This competition is like deciding who would lay railways first in the 19th century. Just as the country that laid railways first led the Industrial Revolution, the nation that lays the digital rails first will lead the future.

The U.S. is building digital dollar hegemony through Circle's USDC. In 2025 USDC's market capitalization reached $75.2 billion, comparable to the GDP of some small countries. Monthly transaction volume exceeds $5 trillion, covering a significant portion of global trade. This is akin to a digital version of the Bretton Woods system, where the dollar became the global reserve currency after departing the gold standard in the mid-20th century.

The European Union is setting the "rules of the game" with MiCA regulation. Over 20 euro stablecoins are competing under these rules. The European Central Bank is considering a digital euro in stablecoin form. Just as the EU set global standards for data protection with GDPR, it seeks to set standards for digital currency.

Japan's approach is more sophisticated. DCJPY, developed jointly by MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho, is not merely a digital yen. It is "programmable money," money that can think and act on its own. Like how smartphones evolved from mere phones to computers, money evolves from a simple store of value to a computer executing smart contracts.

Singapore's Project Guardian shows theory becoming reality. Led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) with participants such as JP Morgan, DBS, and SBI Digital, this asset tokenization pilot experimented with trading and settling real assets like government bonds, FX, and funds on blockchain. The carbon credit trading system implemented in this project reduced transaction costs by 92% and shortened settlement time from days to instant. This is not merely a speed improvement but the birth of a completely new market, like the revolution from letters to email.

South Korea's strategic choice: designer of the digital vasculature

Amid all this global competition, where is South Korea? Unfortunately, we are already significantly behind. South Korea still lacks a legal definition of stablecoins. Private issuance of won-denominated stablecoins is effectively banned, and related bills remain pending in the National Assembly.

South Korea is one of the rare countries that built an independent internet ecosystem free from global big tech dominance. Naver leading search, Kakao leading messaging, and NCSoft leading gaming — this is exceptional in a world dominated by Google and Meta. This was possible because Korean founders could freely experiment during the internet's infancy in the 1990s and early 2000s. While Google and Yahoo emerged in Silicon Valley, simultaneous innovation occurred in Korea, producing competitive domestic platforms to the extent that Google once considered acquiring Naver.

However, the ongoing digital finance revolution presents the opposite situation. While the U.S. effectively monopolizes the stablecoin market and creates global standards, Korean founders cannot even experiment due to unclear regulation. Whether Korea can seize the opportunity in the blockchain finance era as it did in the internet era will be a turning point for digital sovereignty. Due to network effects, the value of stablecoins and blockchains increases exponentially with users.

But crisis is opportunity. Korea's success stories have always started from seemingly impossible challenges. From the poorest country in the 1960s to a semiconductor powerhouse, and turning the 1990s IMF crisis into a digital innovation opportunity, we can do it again. As a latecomer, we can avoid past mistakes and design better systems. The important thing is we no longer have time to waste.

Korea already has strong foundations. Above all, it has world-class software development capability. Korean developers play key roles in global open-source projects and are deeply involved in major blockchain ecosystems like Ethereum, Cosmos, and Polkadot. On algorithm platforms like LeetCode, Korean developers rank among the world’s best, and GitHub contributions are among Asia's highest.

More importantly, Korean developers excel in execution and completeness. Just as KakaoTalk built an independent ecosystem competing with global messengers, Korean developers quickly adopt global standards, localize them, and add innovative features. Exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb rank globally, and Korean developers are core contributors in numerous DeFi protocols.

Samsung already built blockchain wallets into smartphones, and LG developed blockchain-based identity authentication systems. This demonstrates Korea's unique strength in combining hardware and software. Like vertical integration from chip design to system integration in semiconductors, Korea can have full-stack capabilities in blockchain infrastructure.

Korean Autonomous Protocol (KAP)

The Korean blockchain network we must build, the Korean Autonomous Protocol (KAP), should be a comprehensive trust system operating on public blockchains, not merely a won-denominated stablecoin. It is a strategic tool for Korea to secure digital economic sovereignty and potentially lead global standards.

KAP's design principles are clear. First, interoperability. Korea's stablecoin must operate across major public blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana. This is like Korea's 5G technology being compatible with global standards. A closed system, however excellent, cannot survive global competition.

Second, openness. The essence of public blockchains is that anyone can participate. KAP should be a public good usable by all developers and companies, not monopolized by specific firms or institutions. It's like Hangul belonging to all Koreans, not an individual.

Third, innovation. KAP should not merely replicate existing systems but offer new functions for the AI era. For example, it could monitor AI behavior in real time, automatically block anomalous transactions, and embed mechanisms to ensure fair revenue distribution.

Consider concrete use cases. A K-content creator issuing works as NFTs could have global fans purchase them with stablecoins, with proceeds automatically distributed by smart contracts. All of this would occur transparently on a public blockchain and be verifiable by anyone. A Korean SME recording supply chain data on a blockchain could have AI analyze it to propose optimizations and be rewarded according to improved efficiency. Individuals' health data could be encrypted and stored on-chain, with automatic compensation paid whenever research institutions use it.

All of this is possible because public blockchains act as a digital vasculature. Stablecoins are the blood flowing through those vessels.

New governance of trust: transparency and decentralization

The greatest strengths of public blockchains are transparency and decentralization. But they also present new challenges.

Transparency means all transactions are public. While this is a powerful tool to prevent corruption and manipulation, it raises privacy concerns. How will KAP balance this? Using cryptographic techniques like Zero-Knowledge Proofs, one can prove the validity of a transaction while protecting its details. This is like verifying the legitimacy of a vote while guaranteeing secret ballots.

Decentralization means there is no single point of failure. In traditional systems, if a central server goes down, everything stops. Public blockchains continue functioning because tens of thousands of nodes operate simultaneously; some can fail while the whole keeps working. This is similar to how the internet was designed to survive even a nuclear attack.

However, decentralization increases governance complexity. Who makes decisions and how? KAP should allow stakeholders to participate democratically through a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). Citizens (stablecoin users), companies, and government agencies should be able to submit proposals and vote.

More importantly, there must be mechanisms to protect human dignity. When AI causes mass unemployment, public blockchains can be a tool to fairly distribute automation gains. If a company achieves productivity gains through AI, a portion of those gains could be automatically transferred to a public fund — a "smart tax" system. This would be a social contract written in code.

At the crossroads of digital financial sovereignty

We are at a turning point in a digital renaissance. Just as the 15th-century Renaissance was driven by the merger of printing technology and banking systems, the 21st-century digital renaissance unfolds through the convergence of public blockchains and stablecoins. Public blockchains are not merely a technical innovation but the foundational infrastructure of a new civilization. If the Roman Empire built physical connectivity through roads, digital civilization builds value connectivity through blockchain trust networks.

Korea's technical capabilities have been proven. Leadership in semiconductors, pioneering high-speed internet infrastructure, and the global spread of cultural content demonstrate our potential. Yet in digital financial infrastructure competition, the dynamics differ. Unlike semiconductors or telecom infrastructure, blockchains and stablecoins are dominated by network effects. In markets where first-mover advantage is maximized, it is exponentially harder for latecomers to catch up.

Empirical data supports this. USDC grew from $1 billion in 2020 to $75.2 billion in 2025, recording a compound annual growth rate of 134%. Tether's market cap exceeds $140 billion and is poised to surpass Korea's U.S. Treasury holdings. Japan's DCJPY aims for transaction volumes on the order of ¥100 trillion and is building corresponding infrastructure, while Singapore's stablecoin payment volumes exceed $1 billion per quarter. Daily global stablecoin transaction volumes of $5 trillion generate fees, financial data, and financial hegemony concentrated in certain countries and companies.

In past ages, port cities mattered; in the 20th century, low corporate tax and flexible regulation elevated city-states like Singapore and Hong Kong into global financial hubs. Today, the digital finance era is led by blockchains and stablecoins. Korea already possesses the necessary conditions: world-class technical talent, consumers who rapidly adopt new services, and solid digital infrastructure. But without supportive regulation, this opportunity will disappear. If we don't act now, Korea will remain a permanent periphery in the global digital economy. Government and private sectors must act together. Stablecoins and public blockchains are not mere technologies; they are core infrastructure determining economic sovereignty in the AI era.

The choices we make now will determine Korea's digital economic status for decades. There is no more time to hesitate.

■ Seojun Kim, CEO of Hashed — Biography

△Early graduation from Seoul Science High School

△B.S. in Computer Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)

△Chief Product Officer (CPO) and co-founder of Nori

△CEO of Hashed

△Venture Partner at SoftBank Ventures

△Advisor to the National Assembly's 4th Industrial Revolution Special Committee

△Member of the Ministry of Education's Future Education Committee

The opinions expressed by external contributors may differ from the editorial stance of this publication.