South Korean Finance Firms Deepen Web3 Infrastructure Push as Kaia Struggles to Win Adoption

South Korean financial firms step up stablecoin infrastructure build-out

Partnerships spread across Solana, Ripple and other chains

Kaia, which billed itself as a default chain, struggles to gain traction

Industry says it is less competitive than global rivals

Major South Korean financial firms and fintech companies are broadening partnerships with blockchain platforms as they build infrastructure for won-denominated stablecoins and Web3 payments. By contrast, homegrown blockchain Kaia, which had promoted itself as the default chain for the won stablecoin ecosystem, has yet to secure adoption by major financial institutions and is fading from view.

Financial companies are increasingly selecting different blockchain networks based on use case. Shinhan Card signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation to cooperate on stablecoin payment technology. Fashion Group Hyungji also teamed up with Offchain Labs, the developer of Arbitrum, to build payment infrastructure at more than 2,000 stores in South Korea and Singapore.

Commercial banks are also carrying out proof-of-concept projects and overhauling infrastructure. Woori Bank completed a proof of concept with B-DAX for KRW1, a won stablecoin based on Avalanche, and signed an agreement with MoonPay. Shinhan Bank recently switched the eligibility verification system for its Doctor Loan product, a credit loan for physicians, to Giwa Chain, the enterprise blockchain run by Dunamu. Hana Bank is also working to replace existing SWIFT remittances through Giwa Chain. K Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, NongHyup Bank and Jeonbuk Bank have also finalized partnerships with Ripple, Bithumb and Circle, NHN, and Danal, respectively.

Even with that wave of tie-ups, no major adoption case involving Kaia has emerged in the financial sector. Kaia was created through the merger of Kakao's Klaytn and Line's Finschia. The company is pursuing a stablecoin launch in the first half of 2027, a larger business-to-business presence and participation in Progmat DCC, a Japanese payments infrastructure consortium. It also became the first South Korean blockchain infrastructure company to propose a technical design standard for a won stablecoin. So far, however, it has not made the list of infrastructure providers adopted by major financial firms.

The lack of results has also shown up in market indicators. As of May 6, KAIA was trading at 69 won on South Korean crypto exchange Coinone, down about 98% from 5,049 won in April 2021 on a pre-merger basis. Data from on-chain platform DefiLlama showed Kaia's total value locked had fallen to about $12.5 million from $104.37 million in August 2025. The market capitalization of stablecoins in the Kaia ecosystem stands at about $180 million, ranking 29th, far behind Solana at $15.1 billion, Arbitrum at $3.8 billion and Avalanche at $1.4 billion.

Kakao Pay, a member of Kaia's Governance Council, is also exploring alternatives. Industry sources say Kakao Pay is discussing a won stablecoin consortium model with Maru, a project led by blockchain investment firm Hashed. A Kakao Pay official said the company is reviewing various possibilities because stablecoin legislation has not yet been enacted, and declined to disclose specific progress or whether it would cooperate with Kaia.

Crypto industry participants cite scalability, liquidity and reputational risk as reasons financial firms prefer other chains.

"Chains such as Solana and Avalanche have advantages in liquidity and technical ecosystem, so there are limits to replacing them simply because a platform is a domestic company," one industry official said. Another said blockchain partnerships by large companies are directly tied to external credibility. Given issues that arose during earlier project operations, companies are bound to take a conservative view of reputational risk.