By Harry Ryoo, CEO of BDACS and Attorney at Law

• Dollar stablecoins have become part of everyday payments.
• KRW stablecoins are being tested through individual service pilots.
• Global hubs are building stablecoin ecosystems at the city and national level.
• Korea must move beyond standalone services.
• With its tourism and port industries, Busan is an ideal testbed.
• The city should designate a “Stablecoin Payment Pilot Zone.”

Dollar Stablecoins Enter the Payment Mainstream

A set of figures recently released by Visa deserves attention. As of the second quarter of its 2026 fiscal year, more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs were operating worldwide, payment volume had grown roughly 200% year over year, and the annualized settlement run rate had reached $20 billion. Only a year ago, stablecoins were still widely seen as a tool for trading crypto assets on exchanges. Today, a single card swipe may be settled in stablecoins behind the scenes. Dollar stablecoins are no longer just an investment asset. They have become a pillar of global payment infrastructure.

So where does the Korean won stand? Further along than many might assume. Efforts are underway to enable KRW stablecoin payments at self-service photo booths, to build infrastructure that lets Korean companies convert stablecoin-denominated trade proceeds received abroad into won, and to connect KRW stablecoins to Visa’s card network. If these efforts come to fruition, KRW stablecoins could be used by Korean travelers and students spending overseas, by content creators receiving payouts from abroad, and by companies managing travel expenses for their overseas subsidiaries.

From Isolated Pilots to a Connected Ecosystem

Each of these initiatives matters. Viewed objectively, however, they are still company-level proofs of concept. Retail payments, trade settlement, and card network integration are all valuable experiments in their own right. But unless these individual points are connected into a single city or industrial ecosystem, they will remain little more than interesting case studies. Payment infrastructure gains real power only when it operates as a network, not as a scattering of isolated points.

Other cities have already started building that network. Singapore is advancing the tokenization of bonds, funds, and foreign exchange at the national level through Project Guardian, led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), while stablecoin acceptance for visitors is steadily expanding across local merchant networks. Dubai created a dedicated regulator, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), to bring virtual asset activity under a unified supervisory framework, and the government is actively encouraging the use of stablecoins across tourism, real estate, and trade. The two share a clear approach. Rather than waiting for private sector experiments to accumulate on their own, they set the stage and defined the rules first, then let the private sector build on top.

Two Payment Frontiers in One City

If any city in Korea can play that role, it is Busan. Busan is one of the few cities that offers two distinct payment touchpoints at once. The first is tourism. Millions of international visitors pass through Haeundae, Nampo-dong, and the cruise terminal every year, making purchases along the way. Letting them pay instantly with KRW stablecoins, offering a simpler and more cost-efficient alternative to conventional currency exchange, would be a competitive advantage in itself. The second is shipping. Cross-border trade settlements, from bunkering and pilotage fees to container logistics costs, take place at the Port of Busan every day. A city where high-frequency retail payments from tourism coexist with large-value settlements from shipping offers conditions for testing payment infrastructure that are hard to match anywhere else.

A Stablecoin Payment Pilot Zone

What Busan needs now is bold execution. Building on its status as a Blockchain Regulation-Free Special Zone, the city should consider designating a “Stablecoin Payment Pilot Zone” that brings together its special tourism districts, the cruise terminal, and the port hinterland complex. Within this zone, retail touchpoints, trade settlement infrastructure, and international card networks such as Visa would be validated together in one place rather than tested in isolation.

Three efforts should move forward in parallel. First, the city should invite merchants in its special tourism districts to join a KRW stablecoin payment pilot, quickly building an initial merchant network. Second, a trade settlement pilot involving port operators, shipping lines, and logistics companies should run alongside it to verify the reliability of large-value payments. Third, the data generated through these pilots should be shared with the central government to inform discussions on implementing rules for the proposed Digital Asset Basic Act. A city that brings payment experiments from different operators together into a single ecosystem would be a rare example, even by global standards.

The Window Is Narrowing

With dollar stablecoins already deeply embedded in card networks worldwide, the time left for the won to establish a foothold in the real economy is limited. Once a payment standard takes hold, it rarely changes. Whichever currency first secures a place in tourists’ wallets and in the port’s settlement systems will shape the payment landscape for decades to come.

If Busan can prove the value of KRW stablecoins both at tourists’ fingertips and in port settlements, its title as a Blockchain Special Zone will finally carry real substance rather than serving as a mere label. To become a proving ground for the future of payments is the most tangible opportunity within Busan’s reach today.