Ahn Do-geol Says Won Stablecoin May Lose Ground Without Faster Lawmaking at EastPoint: Seoul 2026

Interview with Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Ahn Do-geol

Ahn stresses need for a won stablecoin

"A payment infrastructure for AI and tokenized assets"

Follow-up legislation to be discussed at party AI finance task force

"Beyond a basic law, foreign-exchange and e-finance rules must be updated"

"Stablecoins are the next generation of payment infrastructure, and there is a need to speed up their introduction. The Democratic Party of Korea plans to continue discussions on digital assets and pursue legislation through the newly created AI Transformation Finance, Stock Market and Economic System Reform Task Force under the party leader."

Ahn Do-geol, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, made the remarks in an interview with Bloomingbit on Sept. 15, stressing the need to institutionalize a won-denominated stablecoin. With the US and other major countries accelerating work on regulatory frameworks, a slow response could leave South Korea's digital economy dependent on overseas stablecoins. He added that follow-up discussions and legislation on digital assets would continue through a new task force reporting directly to the party leader.

Ahn proposed the Act on the Issuance and Distribution of Value-Stable Digital Assets in July 2025. The technology behind stablecoins is already an irreversible trend, he said, adding that while the risks of an untested path must be guarded against, legislation should be crafted to minimize those risks.

"Stablecoins Are Payment Infrastructure Linking Tokenized Assets and AI Transactions"

Ahn said stablecoins are not merely a means of payment but infrastructure that could reshape capital-market transaction structures. Their fast processing, low costs and real-time settlement could support transactions that existing financial networks struggle to handle.

He pointed to the rapid global growth of tokenized assets such as security tokens, or STOs, and real-world assets, or RWAs. In the existing financial system, he said, those on-chain assets are difficult to trade smoothly.

That creates the need for a payment instrument that can be used on blockchain networks. In his view, that is exactly the role stablecoins are meant to play.

He also cited the spread of AI agents as a factor that will increase demand for stablecoins. As AI searches data and accesses external services on behalf of users, low-value payments could occur frequently. Existing payment systems were designed on the assumption that humans make transactions, he said, but an era in which AI agents act autonomously will require a very different payment method.

Using database searches and application programming interface, or API, calls as examples, Ahn said stablecoins are indispensable in an AI era built on high-frequency, ultra-small transactions. Services can operate smoothly only if payments for the many tasks carried out by AI can be made in real time, he said.

"If the Market Is Ceded to the Dollar, the Won's Role Will Shrink"

Ahn said the urgency behind a won stablecoin comes down to first-mover advantage. Once users and services gather around an early payment network, it becomes much harder for later entrants to gain traction.

What matters in stablecoins is building the network first, he said. If other stablecoins seize the market early, there may eventually be no room left for a won stablecoin.

He expressed particular concern about dependence on dollar-based stablecoins. If a won stablecoin is not introduced now, he said, the digital economy could end up relying on overseas stablecoins. That, he added, could weaken the effectiveness of monetary policy and lead to an outflow of national wealth.

Ahn said the role of a won stablecoin goes beyond defending monetary sovereignty. Responding to criticism that South Korea's advanced mobile-payments market reduces the need for such a product, he said stablecoins have distinct strengths over existing simple-payment services in fees and versatility.

He also said competition with existing payment networks could lower the cost burden on small merchants. Citing one analysis, Ahn said replacing 30% of card payments with stablecoins could cut annual merchant fees by as much as 5.2 trillion won ($3.8 billion).

He named overseas remittances, tourism and K-culture as potential sources of demand for a won stablecoin. There is an annual remittance market for foreign workers of about 5 trillion won ($3.6 billion), he said, and demand could be strong if a won stablecoin is used instead of conventional cross-border remittance networks, which charge high fees and take longer to process.

Ahn put last year's tourism spending in South Korea by foreign visitors at 31.5 trillion won ($22.8 billion) and K-culture exports at 21.2 trillion won ($15.4 billion). Even if only part of that shifts to a won stablecoin, he said, it would be enough to secure demand to help build the ecosystem.

Still, he added that turning such potential into actual usage would require competitive domestic industries. Expanding the use cases for a won stablecoin would also depend on rising overseas demand for Korean goods and services.

Democratic Party of Korea to Discuss Digital-Asset Bills at AI Finance Task Force

Ahn said he plans to continue the institutionalization debate through the Democratic Party of Korea's new task force. He served last year as secretary of the party's digital-asset task force and said it was regrettable that swift institutionalization was not achieved because of differences over key issues, even though an integrated bill had been prepared.

He said follow-up discussions on digital assets would continue through the AI Transformation Finance, Stock Market and Economic System Reform Task Force set up by party leader Kim Min-seok. As a member of the group, he added, he would work to complete the regulatory overhaul for stablecoins and lay the groundwork for a successful ecosystem.

Ahn also outlined tasks that would remain after the enactment of a Digital Asset Basic Act. For stablecoins to be used in actual transactions, he said, related laws including the Electronic Financial Transactions Act and the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act would also need to be overhauled. Existing laws were built on the assumption of centralized financial institutions and intermediaries, he said, so a new regulatory framework is needed for distributed-ledger-based transaction structures.

Ahn is also scheduled to discuss the uses of stablecoins and related regulatory challenges at EastPoint: Seoul 2026, a global Web3 private conference set for Sept. 28. More concrete discussion is needed on how changes brought by stablecoins to the economy and industry can be turned into new growth opportunities, he said, adding that EastPoint would be a good venue for that conversation.