How Stablecoins Became ‘Payment Infrastructure’ [EastPoint: Seoul 2026]

Hong Seok-won, Partner at Hashed

After years of watching digital assets, I believe the industry has reached a decisive inflection point. Stablecoins were once viewed as a refuge from crypto-market volatility, or as tools that mattered only within exchanges. Now they are rapidly becoming core infrastructure for the global financial system. That is why EastPoint: Seoul 2026 chose the “stablecoin stack” as its second main theme.

Efficiency is at the heart of this shift. Cross-border remittances and business-to-business settlements have long been synonymous with friction. Overseas payments routed through the SWIFT network, the global interbank messaging system, can take days and involve hefty intermediary fees. Stablecoins and smart contracts are turning that process into one that operates in real time and at low cost. What matters is not the technology itself, but the real-world problem it solves.

The direction is clear from the moves global payments companies are making. PayPal set the process in motion by issuing its own stablecoin, PYUSD. Stripe acquired stablecoin platform Bridge. Visa and Mastercard have incorporated stablecoins into their settlement networks. Shopify has moved early to expand USDC payments, while the logistics industry is adopting blockchain to improve the efficiency of trade finance. I see this as a transition in which stablecoins are becoming essential financial infrastructure, spanning everything from interest settlement on tokenized real-world assets, or RWAs, to supply-chain payments.

I believe the full potential of this infrastructure will be realized in the age of artificial intelligence. Before long, autonomous AI agents that can make decisions and transact on their own will account for one pillar of economic activity. The problem is that legacy payment networks were designed for humans. Card approvals, account verification and business hours are familiar constraints for people. For AI agents handling hundreds of transactions a second, they are a critical bottleneck.

Stablecoins, by contrast, operate 24 hours a day and settle in a programmable manner without human intervention. I believe they will ultimately become the primary payment instrument for machine-to-machine transactions between AI agents. This will not be a model in which AI uses payment rails layered on top of networks built for humans. Instead, a single stack built on stablecoins will support both. That is why we made AI a core sub-theme within the idea of the “stablecoin stack.”

The shift in the regulatory paradigm is even more decisive. The U.S. has prepared to bring stablecoins into the institutional financial system through the GENIUS Act. Japan amended its Payment Services Act and moved early to permit issuance. South Korea is no exception. Authorities are accelerating work on the second phase of the Digital Asset Basic Act, which would clearly define issuance and distribution entities. I believe the market’s central question has already changed — from how to regulate virtual assets to how to use them.

Of course, the debate in South Korea is still unfolding. Even so, major financial institutions and IT and fintech companies are exploring payment infrastructure based on won-pegged stablecoins and deposit tokens from multiple angles. That shows the market is already preparing for its next phase. How won-pegged and dollar-pegged stablecoins coexist and compete in South Korea will be one of the most closely watched questions going forward.

EastPoint: Seoul 2025, held last year and co-hosted by Hashed, Bloomingbit and the Korea Economic Daily, brought together the country’s four largest commercial banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — along with major securities firms. Global players including Mastercard, PayPal Ventures and Anchorage Digital also gathered in one place and gave high marks to the potential of South Korea’s blockchain infrastructure.

EastPoint: Seoul 2026, to be held on Sept. 28 at the Westin Seoul Parnas, will take an in-depth look at how stablecoins are being incorporated as a foundational layer of the traditional financial system. The event will run in a dual-track format combining a main stage focused on broad public issues with private business networking for key participants. The digital-asset industry is no longer confined to a market centered on exchanges and tokens.

Hong Seok-won, Partner at Hashed