Shinhan Card Expands Next-Generation Payments Push to Stablecoins and AI Agents

Core blockchain payment tests completed

Joint trials with Visa and Mastercard

AI tested for search, booking and payment transactions

Shinhan Card, headed by Chief Executive Officer Park Chang-hoon, is testing stablecoin- and blockchain-based payment and settlement technology alongside AI agent payments as it prepares for the next shift in payments. The company said it wants to build on the reliability and customer-protection framework of existing card networks as digital assets and AI converge in the future payments market.

Testing the viability of stablecoin payments and settlement

Shinhan Card has completed proof-of-concept tests for six core tasks involving stablecoins and blockchain. The exercise was intended to assess whether a fiat currency-based card payment system can connect to a digital-asset payment and settlement environment and ultimately be developed into commercial services.

The six tasks included blockchain-based peer-to-peer payments, links to external digital-asset wallets and a hybrid debit-credit payment model using stablecoins. The company also tested cross-border remittance and settlement, a payment-exchange-settlement network and card-type hardware wallet technology using IC chips.

With Visa, Mastercard, Fireblocks and domestic and overseas blockchain companies participating, Shinhan Card tested scenarios including direct payments between customer and merchant wallets and stablecoin-based card bill payments. It also reviewed a model in which users pay transaction amounts and network fees through digital-asset wallets they already hold outside the company.

The company also examined a payment model that extends credit lines against stablecoin collateral. In a debit-style structure, stablecoins in a wallet are withdrawn immediately. In a credit-style structure, those holdings are used as collateral to provide a spending limit. The review was aimed at determining whether the strengths of digital assets and traditional credit-card payments can be combined.

With Visa, Shinhan Card also tested a stablecoin-based cross-border remittance and settlement model. The goal was to determine whether international payment flows could be processed faster and at lower cost. With Solana and others, it also tested a smart contract-based payment model designed to execute transactions automatically once preset conditions are met.

Shinhan Card signed a business agreement with the Solana Foundation in April and has been jointly studying the commercialization potential of Web3-based payment services. That work involves implementing payment scenarios between customers and merchants on the Solana testnet and checking blockchain network stability and user convenience.

The company is also examining whether non-custodial wallets, in which users retain direct control over their assets, can be operated in practice. Shinhan Card said it plans to review oracle technology that links real-world transaction data to blockchain systems and the execution stability of smart contracts to determine whether the effort could later expand into new financial services.

AI handles search, booking and payment

Shinhan Card also ran tests aimed at changing how consumers make payments through AI. With Mastercard, it carried out a live-environment demonstration of "AI Agent Pay," in which AI handles search, reservations and payments based on a user's objective. Shinhan Card said it was the first among South Korean card issuers to do so.

In a test linked to a global mobility service, an AI agent found transportation to a destination, made the booking and completed payment after a single user approval.

Shinhan Card and Mastercard also jointly designed related systems, including authentication and authorization management, payment procedures, AI capability upgrades and merchant integration. The focus was on determining whether user control and security can be maintained even when AI is involved in the payment process.

The company has also begun working with the external developer ecosystem. Shinhan Card is participating as an institutional partner in the AI Agentic Hackathon run by the Solana Foundation and Google Cloud, supporting the development of service ideas that combine stablecoin payments and AI.

A Shinhan Card official said stablecoins and blockchain can broaden the scope of payment and settlement infrastructure, while AI agents can reshape the payment experience. The company will continue testing both the technical potential and the safety of those technologies, the official added.

Cho Mi-hyun, Hankyung.com reporter mwise@hankyung.com