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Amid South Korea's preparation for a new phase of digital asset regulation, a consortium consisting of Hana Financial TI, XRPL Korea, and Axelar successfully completed a proof-of-concept testing of mechanisms for issuing and circulating a stablecoin pegged to the Korean won (KRW) on the XRP Ledger.
The key feature of the case was the decision to avoid using third-party smart contracts in favor of XRPL's native protocols. As project participants note, for institutional players such as Hana Financial, one of the country's largest banking holding companies, compliance logic embedded directly into the blockchain is critical.
During the tests, tools required to operate within the legal framework were validated:
- Authorized trust lines: the ability to implement wallet whitelisting
- Clawback and freeze: functions for asset recovery and account freezing in case of court orders
- Cross-chain integration: through Axelar, seamless movement of the won across different blockchain networks was tested
Why XRP may power the future of Korea's on-chain banking
As of mid-2026, Korea remains one of the largest markets by XRP trading volume, yet interaction between XRP and the local currency has so far been limited to exchanges. The move toward testing an institutional-grade stablecoin represents an attempt to bring real foreign exchange operations directly onto the decentralized exchange of the XRP Ledger.
Given the record activity of the Korean community, the emergence of an on-chain won is a logical step toward creating a fully liquid FX market within the ledger. If the regulator gives the green light based on the results of this PoC, XRPL could become the core infrastructure for a digital won in South Korea's commercial sector.
Dan Burgin
U.Today Editorial Team
