Hashed Open Finance Unveils First Testnet for Korean Won Stablecoin Blockchain Maroo

Hashed Open Finance on May 7 unveiled the first testnet for Maroo, a layer-1 blockchain built for a Korean won-based stablecoin ecosystem.

Hashed Open Finance, an affiliate of Hashed, said the testnet will be open to external developers and financial institutions to validate the network’s architecture and functions. The company described it as an initial effort to test whether a won-based digital financial system can be built in a global stablecoin market dominated by dollar-based infrastructure.

Maroo is designed to preserve the openness of a public blockchain while incorporating features required by regulated finance from the design stage, including compliance, auditability and privacy protection. The testnet is focused on confirming whether the structure laid out in a light paper released in January works in a live environment.

The network is intended to support participation centered on the won without volatile assets. On the testnet, fees are paid with a dedicated token called OKRW. It adopts a dual-track model combining an Open Path and a Regulated Path, allowing general users and regulated participants to use the same infrastructure.

Its regulatory framework is another defining feature. Instead of reviewing transactions after execution, the system applies policy checks at the execution stage. Key rules, including know-your-customer checks, transfer limits, blacklists, transaction volume caps and AI agent transactions, are verified on-chain in real time. Policies can also be updated through a separate channel so the network can respond flexibly to regulatory changes.

The testnet also includes features for an AI-based financial environment. Through the Maroo Agent Wallet Stack, or MAWS, each AI agent is assigned a unique on-chain identity and can carry out transactions autonomously within user-defined permissions. The system also supports integration with major AI development tools and allows those permissions to be revoked if abnormal activity occurs.

The company is also providing testnet scenarios based on assumed real-world use cases. They include a payment model linked to Kakao KYC. Some of the technology has already been applied to a digital wallet service developed in cooperation with the Busan Digital Asset Exchange. Hashed Open Finance aims to launch the mainnet within 2026 after security audits and additional feature development.

Chief Executive Officer Kim Ho-jin of Hashed Open Finance said the testnet implements in a live network environment the core Maroo design first presented in the January light paper. He added that a structure in which AI agents have their own on-chain identities and autonomously conduct financial transactions within rules defined by users could become a meaningful milestone for blockchain-based finance.

Hashed Chief Executive Officer Simon Kim said stablecoins are not merely financial products but infrastructure that will determine how a country’s currency exists in the digital era. With global infrastructure now being built entirely around the US dollar, Maroo gives South Korea a rare chance to design its own digital financial order on a won-based foundation, he added.