Shinhan Financial Group, one of South Korea’s largest financial services companies, has partnered with Visa to test the issuance and redemption of stablecoins and explore new business-to-business payment models using blockchain technology.
The collaboration will use Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), the payments giant’s infrastructure for stablecoin and tokenised asset services, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
Shinhan will pilot the end-to-end lifecycle of stablecoins — including issuance, cross-border remittance, and redemption — while developing artificial intelligence-powered payment solutions aimed at corporate clients.
Testing enterprise payment rails
The partnership focuses on B2B settlements, an area where traditional banking infrastructure often faces friction due to delays, high costs, and limited interoperability across borders.
Stablecoins, digital currencies pegged to fiat assets such as the US dollar or South Korean won, have gained traction among financial institutions as a potential tool to streamline cross-border transactions and reduce settlement times.
Visa launched VTAP in 2023 to help banks and fintechs issue and manage fiat-backed tokens on blockchain networks. The platform has since been used by institutions in Latin America, Europe, and Asia to test various use cases.
Shinhan’s pilot marks one of the first applications of VTAP in South Korea, where regulators have signalled openness to controlled experimentation with digital assets under sandbox frameworks.
South Korea’s stablecoin landscape
South Korea has emerged as a significant player in digital asset adoption, with high retail crypto ownership and growing institutional interest in blockchain-based financial products.
The country’s Financial Services Commission has been working on comprehensive legislation for digital assets, including stablecoins, though regulations remain in development.
In July, the regulator announced plans to introduce a licensing regime for stablecoin issuers, requiring reserves to be fully backed and held in segregated accounts. The draft framework is expected to be finalised by the end of 2025.
Shinhan Financial Group operates Shinhan Bank, one of the country’s top commercial banks by assets. The group has previously explored blockchain applications, including participation in a central bank digital currency pilot led by the Bank of Korea.
AI integration in payments
In addition to stablecoin testing, Shinhan plans to integrate AI tools into the payment workflows developed through the partnership. Details on the specific AI models or applications were not disclosed.
The use of AI in payment systems has grown across the financial sector, with institutions deploying machine learning for fraud detection, transaction monitoring, and dynamic liquidity management.
Visa has also invested heavily in AI capabilities, using the technology to analyse transaction patterns and improve security across its global network.
The pilot with Shinhan is expected to run through the end of 2025, with results informing potential commercial deployment in 2026.
Neither Shinhan nor Visa provided details on the blockchain networks that will be used for the pilot or the volume of transactions planned during the testing phase.