BC Card Completes Pilot for Stablecoin Payments by Foreigners in Korea

Verification of Payment Stability Conducted Over Two Months Starting in October

On December 23, BC Card announced that it had completed a pilot project utilizing stablecoins held by foreigners as a payment method at domestic merchants.

The pilot was conducted in collaboration with blockchain financial company Wavebridge, overseas digital wallet provider Aaron Group, and cross-border remittance fintech company Global Money Express.

The pilot, which ran for about two months starting in October, focused on determining whether foreign currency-based stablecoins held by foreigners could be used in the domestic payment environment and verifying the convenience and stability of such payments.

During the pilot, foreign users first converted the stablecoins they held in overseas digital wallets partnered with BC Card into digital prepaid cards. The next step was to verify whether payments could be made smoothly at domestic merchants such as convenience stores, cafes, and supermarkets using only a QR code, without the need for a separate physical card or currency exchange procedures.

The core of the project lies in combining the cross-border mobility of stablecoins with the stability of card payment infrastructure. While stablecoins offer high efficiency for overseas payments and remittances, there have been concerns about their limitations in domestic card payment environments, where real-time processing is required for actions such as payment cancellations or corrections.

To address this, BC Card incorporated stablecoin payments into the existing card approval and settlement structure by using digital prepaid cards as an intermediary. This design allows both payment customers and merchants to conduct transactions in the same way as traditional card payments.

BC Card views this pilot not just as a short-term technology verification, but as a process of preparing a stablecoin payment structure that can adapt to future changes in domestic laws and regulations.

By doing so, the company plans to strengthen cooperation with relevant agencies in light of the ongoing legislative developments related to virtual assets, and to lead the establishment of a Korean-style stablecoin payment infrastructure by advancing payment models that comply with domestic regulations.

Choi Wonseok, CEO of BC Card, said, "Stablecoins are particularly useful for cross-border payments due to their technological characteristics, and they have great potential to enhance the domestic payment experience for foreign consumers. BC Card will gradually develop a stable and compliant stablecoin payment model based on our card payment infrastructure and in accordance with domestic legal and regulatory requirements."

Meanwhile, as the largest payment infrastructure company in Korea, BC Card is strengthening partnerships with major financial institutions, fintech companies, and virtual asset service providers, focusing on building a universal payment infrastructure necessary to vitalize the domestic stablecoin market.

The company is also working to secure competitiveness in infrastructure based on intellectual property rights by filing patents for core technologies, such as data processing technology that determines a reasonable exchange rate between fiat currency and stablecoins at the time of payment.