[Exclusive] KakaoBank meets with global custody heavyweight…possible stablecoin partnership

Private meeting with Fireblocks on the 3rd

“Conducted technology research and networking”

Focus on potential cooperation on a won-denominated stablecoin

Kakao ramps up its ‘stablecoin TF’

KakaoBank has been confirmed to have held a private meeting with Fireblocks, a global digital-asset custody firm. Fireblocks provides digital-asset storage infrastructure essential to stablecoin businesses, raising the possibility that it could collaborate with Kakao in building a won-denominated stablecoin ecosystem.

According to BloombergBit’s reporting on the 4th, KakaoBank invited Fireblocks officials to its headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on the 3rd to discuss a broad range of Web3 technologies. Attendees included Fireblocks Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Stephen Richardson, as well as key executives responsible for global and Asia sales.

A KakaoBank official said, “The meeting with Fireblocks was for the purpose of technology research and networking, including digital-asset custody,” adding, “Rather than collaborating on a specific business immediately, we focused on gauging industry trends.”

Given that Fireblocks is a global company providing top-tier security services in digital-asset custody, the two sides are believed to have broadly shared information on stablecoin adoption cases at global financial institutions, digital-asset wallet architecture, security infrastructure, and regulatory response strategies.

Issuing a stablecoin requires institutional-grade custody infrastructure capable of securely segregating and storing reserve assets and digital assets, and controlling the full issuance and redemption (burning) process. In particular, if a financial institution such as KakaoBank participates as an issuer, regulatory requirements for internal controls and incident-response systems also rise.

Fireblocks counts about 2,000 global companies as clients, including BNY Mellon, BNP Paribas, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), as well as banks, crypto exchanges, and custody providers worldwide. It is widely regarded as a leading provider of security, wallet, and settlement infrastructure for stablecoins and tokenized-asset operations.

Previously, last year Kakao launched a ‘Joint Stablecoin Task Force (TF),’ led jointly by the CEOs of Kakao, KakaoBank, and Kakao Pay, and moved in earnest to design an integrated stablecoin ecosystem spanning issuance, operations, and payments.

As discussions on institutionalizing stablecoins gain momentum in the National Assembly and government, Kakao affiliates appear to be expanding their touchpoints with the Web3 industry and actively reviewing related technologies. A Kakao official said, “Centered on the group-level stablecoin TF, we are meeting with various industry experts to review the technology and the institutional environment.”