Hecto Innovation Enters Execution Phase of Stablecoin Payment Ecosystem Centered on Wallets

Hecto Innovation, an IT-based information service company led by CEO Lee Hyuncheol, announced on February 4 that it is entering the full-fledged execution phase of its mid- to long-term growth strategy by building a stablecoin payment ecosystem centered on a digital asset wallet.

Hecto Innovation is pushing to build a stablecoin payment ecosystem in which wallet, payment, and platform are organically connected. Its subsidiaries, global fintech company Hecto Financial and wallet infrastructure specialist Hecto Wallet One, will serve as the core pillars of the ecosystem by securing competitiveness in the payment and settlement area and in the wallet area, respectively. Positioned at the top of the ecosystem, Hecto Innovation plans to link customer data across wallet, payment, and platform to increase retention (revisit rate) and to create a virtuous cycle that leads to customer lock-in and inflows of new customers.

The wallet is an essential gateway for stablecoins, supporting know-your-customer (KYC), real-time payments, and settlements. In line with this, in September last year Hecto Innovation internalized the technology by acquiring Hecto Wallet One, a virtual asset service provider (VASP) that possesses the only blockchain wallet technology infrastructure in Korea. Currently, about 40% of domestic virtual asset service providers use Hecto Wallet One’s services, giving the company a structure that can immediately scale up services as stablecoins spread.

The synergy from Hecto Innovation’s acquisition of Hecto Wallet One has first appeared in the global market. In October last year, Hecto Innovation became the only Korean company to partner with Circle in the wallet segment of the public testnet for Arc, Circle’s stablecoin-dedicated blockchain mainnet, and is preparing integration work.

Hecto Innovation plans a large-scale expansion of wallets this year. The first targets are the B2B customer pool secured by Hecto Financial, including client companies using “Nae Tongjang Payment,” Hecto Financial’s membership-based easy cash payment service, and global cross-border settlement clients.

The company is also preparing to target general consumers. Due to the nature of stablecoins, there is sufficient wallet demand for actual use cases such as payments and remittances. A representative example is migrant workers who are excluded from the formal financial system and therefore use stablecoins instead of fiat currency. According to the government, about 2.65 million foreign nationals were residing in Korea last year, accounting for 5.2% of the country’s population.

Hecto Financial will support the wallet’s expansion into global markets. After participating last October as Circle’s sole domestic partner in the payment segment of the Arc public testnet, Hecto Financial recently joined Circle Payments Network (CPN). CPN is a global network that supports real-time cross-border fund transfers using the dollar-based stablecoin USDC and others. By connecting to this global network, Hecto Financial has secured a strategic entry point that enables Hecto Innovation’s wallet infrastructure to be linked with and expanded across various payment networks.

CEO Lee Hyuncheol of Hecto Innovation said, “Digital asset wallets will emerge as core infrastructure in the stablecoin payment market, going beyond a simple asset storage function to determine market entry and the competitive landscape,” adding, “Hecto Innovation will lead the creation of Hecto Group’s unique ecosystem that connects payment, settlement, and platform around the wallet, and will drive mid- to long-term corporate value enhancement and global business expansion.”