Korea Insurance Institute to launch 'crypto scholarship' program; stablecoin payment discounts also introduced

The Korea Insurance Institute said on the 24th that it will introduce a 'crypto scholarship' program to promote digital-asset education.

The program will be fully applied starting with the 'Crypto Literacy' course, which begins on April 11. It will evaluate participants’ attendance and learning outcomes, and those who meet certain criteria will receive scholarships paid in digital assets.

The institute said it piloted the program in the first and second cohorts, reviewing the evaluation framework and receiving positive feedback from participants. Those who complete the course and earn strong scores on the assessment exam will receive scholarships worth at least about KRW 70,000, with amounts increasing on a tiered basis depending on performance.

The Crypto Literacy course is designed to build a structured understanding of blockchain and digital assets. It covers Bitcoin’s origins, the principles of blockchain technology, the Web3 ecosystem and changes in global finance, and also includes hands-on practice in setting up digital wallets and managing assets. The program runs for a total of 12 hours, and anyone can apply via the institute’s website.

To improve access to education, the institute also introduced a pilot stablecoin payment option—the first such approach among domestic educational institutions. Stablecoin payments will be available to up to 20 people per course, and those who pay with stablecoins will receive a 10% discount on tuition. Once legislation related to KRW-backed digital assets is completed, the institute plans to switch to KRW stablecoin payments.

In addition, it plans to issue its own mileage-type 'KII token' to expand the scholarship program to online content users more broadly. The idea is to build a learning model suited to the digital-asset era by introducing various reward schemes such as micro-scholarships.

Ha Tae-kyung, president of the Korea Insurance Institute, said, "Crypto scholarships are an incentive mechanism to expand public participation in digital-asset education," adding, "We will continue to provide a structured educational environment so people can prepare for the new AI-based finance era."