Hyundai Card, Hyundai Motor Complete Stablecoin Remittance Pilot Between Overseas Units

Hyundai Card and Hyundai Motor Co. have completed a proof of concept for fund transfers between overseas affiliates using stablecoins and have begun building infrastructure for a commercial rollout.

Hyundai Card said July 9 that it had completed the first pilot for remittances between Hyundai Motor’s US and Mexican units using stablecoins. A second pilot is set to begin later in July among Hyundai Motor entities in Europe.

In the first test, Hyundai Motor America, or HMA, converted $20,000 into Tether’s dollar-pegged USDT and sent it to Hyundai Motor’s Mexico unit, HMM. The funds were then converted back into dollars locally.

The pilot, conducted with Tether, Avalanche and Axm, showed that cross-border remittance and settlement took an average of seven minutes. That compared with at least three to four hours for conventional cross-border transfers through bank networks, confirming the technology’s speed and efficiency, Hyundai Card said.

For the test, Hyundai Card and Hyundai Motor reviewed legal and regulatory requirements in advance, including accounting, tax, legal and internal-control issues tied to overseas subsidiaries, and designed the process themselves. The company said the project went beyond a simple blockchain test by examining risks that could arise in actual intercompany settlement.

The second pilot, scheduled for later in July, will cover Hyundai Motor’s overseas subsidiaries in Europe. It will involve live remittances in local currencies including the euro and assess overall economic benefits, including cost efficiency in foreign-exchange conversion. Circle and Visa will participate in the second pilot alongside other global finance and blockchain companies.

Based on the results, Hyundai Card said it will continue studying whether stablecoins can be introduced into settlement and fund transfer systems among Hyundai Motor Group’s overseas units worldwide. A Hyundai Card official said the significance of the pilot was that it designed and verified infrastructure suitable for practical business adoption, not just a technology test. The company added that it will continue to expand business opportunities in international remittances and payments using stablecoins.