Hana Financial Group said on October 23 that it is running a proof of concept with Dunamu, the operator of the Upbit digital asset platform, to test real-time payments and merchant settlement using stablecoins that customers hold on Upbit. The trial, built on work by Hana Card and Dunamu, also tests paying with several stablecoins in one transaction, for example a card linked to an Upbit wallet that spends USDT or USDC first and switches to the yen-pegged JPYC if the balance falls short, and the group plans to launch the service once Korea’s regulatory framework is in place.
Why it matters: Merchants paid through Korea’s card networks wait several days for settlement, so the bigger change here is merchant cash flow, which real-time settlement on stablecoins would speed up. Wiring Upbit exchange wallets into card payments also gives a bank-owned card issuer a route to crypto holders before the won stablecoin rules arrive, the same route Shinhan Card is exploring with SBI for yen stablecoins.
Source: The Asia Business Daily, October 23, 2026
Image: Sean Young (@assanges), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
