[Opinion] How Stablecoins Became Core Payment Infrastructure

Hong Seok-won, Partner at Hashed

Having watched digital assets for years, I believe the industry has reached a decisive inflection point. Stablecoins were once treated as a refuge from crypto-market volatility or as a tool relevant only within exchanges. Now they are rapidly emerging as core infrastructure for the global financial system. That is why EastPoint: Seoul 2026 selected the “stablecoin stack” as its second main theme.

At the heart of this shift is efficiency. Cross-border remittances and business-to-business settlements have long been defined by inefficiency. Overseas payments routed through SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, have typically taken days and involved sizable intermediary fees. Stablecoins and smart contracts are changing that process into one that is real-time and low-cost. What matters is not the technology itself, but the real-world problems it solves.

The direction is clear from the moves of global payments companies. PayPal set the tone by issuing its own stablecoin, PYUSD. Stripe acquired the stablecoin platform Bridge. Visa and Mastercard have added stablecoins to their settlement networks. Shopify has expanded USDC payments, and the logistics industry is adopting blockchain to improve trade-finance efficiency. I see this as stablecoins advancing into essential financial infrastructure, spanning everything from interest payments on tokenized real-world assets, or RWAs, to supply-chain payments.

I believe the true potential of this infrastructure will be realized in the age of artificial intelligence. Before long, AI agents that make decisions and transact autonomously will become one pillar of economic activity. The problem is that existing payment networks were designed for humans. Card approvals, account verification and business hours are familiar constraints for people. For AI agents processing hundreds of transactions a second, they are severe bottlenecks.

Stablecoins, by contrast, operate 24 hours a day and settle in a programmable way without human intervention. I believe they will ultimately become the dominant payment instrument for machine-to-machine transactions between AI agents. This is not a model in which AI uses payment rails built for humans. It is a structure in which a single stack centered on stablecoins supports both. That is why we made AI a core subtopic within the idea of the “stablecoin stack.”

The shift in the regulatory paradigm is even more significant. The U.S. has prepared to bring stablecoins into the regulated financial system through the GENIUS Act, while Japan amended its Payment Services Act and moved early to permit issuance. South Korea is no exception. Authorities are accelerating work on the second phase of the Digital Asset Basic Act to clearly define issuers and distributors. In my view, the market is now asking a different question: not how to regulate digital assets, but how to use them.

Of course, debate in South Korea is still under way. Even so, major financial institutions and IT and fintech companies are exploring payment infrastructure built on won-pegged stablecoins and deposit tokens from multiple angles, showing the market is already preparing for the next phase. How won-linked and dollar-linked stablecoins will coexist and compete in the Korean market will be one of the most important questions to watch.

EastPoint: Seoul 2025, held last year by Hashed, Bloomingbit and the Korea Economic Daily, brought together South Korea’s four largest commercial banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — along with major securities firms. Global players including Mastercard, PayPal Ventures and Anchorage Digital also gathered there and spoke highly of the potential of South Korea’s blockchain infrastructure.

EastPoint: Seoul 2026, scheduled for Sept. 28 at the Westin Seoul Parnas, will examine in depth how stablecoins are being incorporated into the foundational layer of the existing financial system. The event will use a dual-track format combining a main stage focused on broad public issues with private business networking for key stakeholders. The digital-asset industry is no longer confined to a market centered on exchanges and tokens.

Hong Seok-won, Partner at Hashed

The views expressed in this outside contribution may differ from the editorial stance of this publication.