South Korea Yet to Begin Debate on AI Payment Infrastructure

Digital Asset Basic Act Faces Prolonged Delay

Industry Pursues Patents and Other Standalone Measures

The era of artificial intelligence agents spending money is beginning, but South Korea has yet to even start discussing the infrastructure needed for AI payments, industry officials say. A prolonged delay in legislation for the Digital Asset Basic Act has slowed debate not only on stablecoin payments, but also on liability structures for payments made by AI agents. Card issuers and simple-payment companies are reviewing stablecoin payment technology and running tests, but legislative uncertainty is preventing them from pursuing concrete business opportunities.

As of April 28, South Korean card companies had been taking individual steps since last year, including filing patents for technology needed to process stablecoin payments and signing business agreements with related companies, according to industry officials. BC Card is pushing ahead with a proof-of-concept for USD Coin, or USDC, payments with Coinbase. KB Kookmin Card has filed a patent for hybrid payment technology that switches to a credit card when a stablecoin balance is insufficient. Woori Card is reviewing a plan to add stablecoin payments to its Woori WON Card app.

For now, discussion in South Korea remains centered on how to link stablecoins to existing payment networks. Even that has failed to gain momentum as legal and institutional groundwork, including the Digital Asset Basic Act, remains unfinished. Questions over limits, approvals and liability when AI agents spend money on a user's behalf remain a later-stage task. With the legal status of stablecoins still unclear, the issue of AI agents using them for automated payments has been pushed further down the agenda.

Some industry officials say the slow pace of discussion in South Korea is natural, given that AI-agent payments themselves remain in the early experimental stage globally. Still, calls are growing for a response because wallets and payment infrastructure are areas where South Korea's financial industry could seize the initiative, separate from competition in AI models. Likely flashpoints include who bears responsibility in remittances and who should be regarded as the settlement entity for payments made by AI agents. "The longer legislation is delayed, the more domestic payment companies will remain stuck in the technology-testing stage, while actual market leadership could pass to overseas big tech firms," an industry official said.

Park Si-on, Hankyung.com reporter ushire908@hankyung.com