Yen stablecoin payments: Shinhan, SBI plan Korea card tests

Key takeaways

• Shinhan Card signed a memorandum of understanding with SBI VC Trade and SBI XDC Network APAC on October 20, 2026, at SBI Group's Tokyo headquarters, according to Korean media reports based on the company's press release.
• The partners plan proof-of-concept tests of yen stablecoin card payments for Japanese visitors to South Korea, wallet-to-wallet transfers, cross-border trade settlement, and possible participation in the XDC Network node ecosystem.
• No stablecoin has been named for the trial, and no pilot timeline or commercial launch date has been announced, CoinDesk reported.
• Commercial service would require meeting regulatory requirements in both countries. South Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act, which would set stablecoin rules, has not yet passed.

What the agreement covers

Shinhan Card plans to test yen stablecoin payments for Japanese visitors to South Korea after signing a memorandum of understanding with SBI VC Trade and SBI XDC Network APAC in Tokyo on October 20, 2026, Financial News reported. No launch date has been set. In Hong Kong, the HSBC RedCoin stablecoin is now live for 3.3 million PayMe users.

According to the Korean reports, the memorandum sets out four areas of work:

1. Card payments with a yen stablecoin. A stablecoin balance would be linked to a card, so a Japanese visitor could pay Korean merchants as easily as with a conventional card.
2. Wallet-to-wallet (W2W) payments using yen stablecoins.
3. Cross-border trade settlement. The partners want to test whether stablecoins can settle trade payments faster and more cheaply than existing international remittance networks.
4. XDC Network nodes. Shinhan Card will consider taking part in the network's node ecosystem.

The partners also plan to test anti-money-laundering (AML) controls and fraud detection systems for stablecoin payments. After the proof-of-concept results are in, they will hold detailed talks on each item, Hansbiz reported. A Shinhan Card official called the partnership the first step toward a new payment model linking digital assets and traditional finance (translated from Korean).

CoinDesk described the project as being at an early stage. It reported that the firms have not said which stablecoin they will test and have not set a timeline for a trial or a launch.

The yen stablecoin in the background: JPYSC

The agreement does not name a token, but SBI Group already distributes one yen-backed stablecoin. JPYSC is issued through SBI Shinsei Trust Bank and was developed with Singapore-based Startale Group. SBI processed its first issuance on June 24, 2026, The Block reported. SBI says JPYSC is classified as an electronic payment instrument under Japan's Payment Services Act. It also says the trust-based structure means the token is not subject to the 1 million yen transaction and balance limits that apply to fund-transfer-type stablecoins.

JPYSC is still tightly restricted. It can only be held in SBI VC Trade accounts and cannot yet be sent to external wallets while its regulatory and tax treatment is clarified, according to The Block and CoinDesk. A card payment by a Japanese tourist in Seoul would need the token to leave that closed environment in some form, so this restriction matters for the Korea project. CoinDesk noted that it is not known whether JPYSC will be part of the test.

Key figures

The tourism figures explain why the card-payment use case comes first. Japanese visitors to Korea reached a record in 2025, and arrivals in the first seven months of 2026 rose by almost a fifth from a year earlier. Card spending by foreign visitors grew even faster over the same period.

How a yen stablecoin payment could settle for a Korean merchant

The companies have not published a technical design, so the details below are open questions, not announced features. The stated goal is that a visitor should be able to pay "with the same convenience as conventional cards". That points to a model where the stablecoin sits behind an ordinary card transaction rather than a merchant accepting tokens directly.

In card-linked stablecoin models used elsewhere, the cardholder's token balance funds the purchase. The issuer or a partner converts the value. The merchant is then paid in local currency through the usual acquiring network, so the shop sees a normal sale in won. If the Shinhan–SBI test follows this pattern, the stablecoin would mainly change how the visitor's side of the transaction is funded and how the issuers settle with each other across the border. The merchant experience would stay the same. The key unanswered questions are:

• who holds the yen stablecoin and converts it into won, and at what exchange rate;
• whether settlement between Japanese and Korean entities happens on a blockchain such as XDC Network or through existing card networks;
• how AML and fraud-detection checks are applied when funds start as a token in a Japanese exchange account.

The trade-settlement track is a separate case. In that track, stablecoins could replace part of the correspondent-banking chain for business payments, and the partners say they aim to cut fees and settlement time. They have not published any figures.

Regulatory steps still needed

Japan. Japan already has a legal category for stablecoins as electronic payment instruments. From June 2026 it also allows certain foreign-issued stablecoins to be distributed domestically, Korea JoongAng Daily reported. For JPYSC specifically, the remaining hurdle is permission to move the token outside SBI VC Trade accounts, which depends on legal and tax clarity and regulatory approval.

South Korea. The country has no complete legal framework for issuing and distributing stablecoins. The Digital Asset Basic Act, the second phase of Korea's crypto legislation after a 2023 user-protection law, stalled earlier this year. One reason was a dispute over a proposal that banks or bank consortiums hold at least 50% plus one share of any won-stablecoin issuer, JoongAng Daily reported in September. On October 20, The Block reported that the bill is said to be in its final stages of government consultation and is expected to reach the National Assembly next month. That timeline has not been confirmed. The Korean reports on the Shinhan deal state plainly that commercial service would require meeting regulatory requirements in both countries. The same stalled bill now also affects tax policy; see our explainer on South Korea's 2027 crypto tax and the push to delay it.

The public reports do not say how a yen-denominated token used by foreign visitors would be treated under Korean rules, or which licenses Shinhan Card or its partners would need.

Context: Shinhan's wider stablecoin push

The SBI agreement follows an August 2026 memorandum between Shinhan Financial Group and Visa to explore stablecoin issuance, transfers and card settlement, as well as AI-based payments. Other Korean financial groups are running their own tests while they wait for legislation. In the US, stablecoin deals are drawing political scrutiny as well, including a lawsuit over World Liberty Financial's UAE-linked USD1 deal. JoongAng Daily reported won-stablecoin payment and remittance trials by KB Financial Group and Woori Bank, and said Shinhan Bank is strengthening its AML systems in preparation.

What it means

The agreement is a framework for testing, not a product launch. It is significant because it pairs a large Korean card issuer with the Japanese group that already distributes a regulated yen stablecoin, and it targets a corridor with record two-way tourism. If the tests work and regulators in both countries allow it, Japanese visitors could one day fund Korean card purchases from a yen stablecoin balance, while merchants keep being paid as they are today. Until then, the main constraints are JPYSC's closed-loop status in Japan and the unfinished Digital Asset Basic Act in Korea. Neither has a public resolution date. Readers should treat any launch timing as unknown until the companies or regulators announce one.

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Sources

• CoinDesk: Japanese visitors may be able to pay with yen stablecoins in South Korea under Shinhan-SBI pact (Oct. 21, 2026)
• Financial News (Korean): Shinhan Card to run yen stablecoin payment trial with SBI Group (Oct. 21, 2026)
• Hansbiz (Korean): Shinhan Card and SBI cooperate on yen stablecoin payment verification (Oct. 21, 2026)
• The Block: SBI Group launches Japan's first trust bank-backed stablecoin JPYSC
• Korea JoongAng Daily: Korean banks race to test stablecoins as Seoul's digital currency rules remain stuck (Sept. 15, 2026)
• The Block: Injective partners with BDACS to bring Korean won stablecoin to RWA ecosystem (Oct. 20, 2026)
• Jiji Press via Adnkronos: Travelers between Japan, S. Korea hit record high in 2025
• The Korea Herald: Foreign arrivals to Korea rose 21.3% to 12.8 million through July (Aug. 31, 2026)

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.