'Kakao Pay', which registered stablecoin trademarks, surges over 10% during the day

Kakao Pay is showing a sharp rally during intraday trading. It is interpreted that investors’ interest has surged following the news that Kakao Pay has filed numerous trademark applications for stablecoins (virtual assets pegged to fiat currency).

As of 9:21 AM on the 23rd (Korean time), Kakao Pay is trading at ₩88,300 on the Korea Exchange, up 10.93% from the previous day.

The rise in Kakao Pay’s share price today is analyzed to be driven by the stablecoin trademark news. Previously, on the 17th, Kakao Pay filed a total of 18 trademark applications under six names: 'PKRW', 'KKRW', 'KRWP', 'KPKRW', 'KRWKP', and 'KRWK'. The classifications include Electronic Devices (Category 09), Financial Services (Category 36), and IT Development (Category 42).

In fact, Kakao Pay also explained that this trademark filing was a “preemptive measure related to stablecoins.”

Kakao Pay is considered a primary beneficiary of the KRW-based stablecoin policy, one of the core initiatives of the new government.

On this day, Eugene Investment & Securities projected that, in relation to the introduction of KRW-based stablecoins, Kakao Pay—which holds the largest prepaid funds—would be the key beneficiary.

Jo Tae-na, a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, stated in a report today, “In the stablecoin business model, as you can earn greater operating profit the more collateral assets you have, the scale of prepaid funds can be important.” She explained that, as of Q1, Kakao Pay held about ₩591.9 billion in prepaid electronic payment balances—over three times greater than Naver Pay (₩157.6 billion) and Toss (₩137.5 billion).