South Korea Says Stablecoins Could Save Merchants $3.8 Billion Annually
South Korea’s National Assembly Budget Office said broader stablecoin adoption could cut payment-intermediation costs and improve settlement efficiency for merchants, including in card and cross-border transactions. The assessment comes as policymakers consider a regulatory framework for won-denominated stablecoins. Wider use, however, could shift deposits away from commercial banks, reducing their funding base and weakening their traditional role in lending and credit creation.
In a report released in September 2026, the budget office estimated that stablecoins could save South Korean merchants as much as $3.8 billion annually. It also warned that a wave of redemptions during market stress could force issuers to sell reserve assets and cause tokens to lose their pegs. Large-scale adoption could also marginalize banks’ credit-intermediation function, adding financial-stability risks to the potential cost savings.
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The history behind this eventBank of Korea Finds Stablecoin Demand Can Weaken Local Currencies
Dollar-backed stablecoins such as USDT and USDC give investors dollar exposure outside traditional banking channels. The Bank of Korea said their foreign-exchange impact depends on market structure: when an exchange offers direct trading against local fiat, global market makers supplying the tokens may sell the currency and buy dollars to hedge their positions. That mechanism can turn crypto demand into depreciation pressure, linking stablecoin regulation to exchange-rate stability and capital flows.
Researchers Jihyun Kim and Sangheum Cho published the issue note on Sept. 3, examining 12 currencies and Binance pair listings from 2019 through 2025. Stablecoin premiums fell by 0.33 to 0.38 percentage point after direct pairs were introduced, while a Brazilian demand shock was associated with a roughly 0.118% depreciation of the real. Korea remains an exception: without a direct won pair on Binance, buying pressure raised local premiums but had no statistically significant exchange-rate effect.
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