Toss Teams Up With Optimism, Sunnyside Labs to Test Won Stablecoin Infrastructure

Toss said on July 8 that it is teaming up with global layer-2 blockchain company Optimism and privacy technology developer Sunnyside Labs to test digital financial infrastructure based on the Korean won.

Viva Republica, the operator of Toss, signed a memorandum of understanding with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs on July 8 to explore the feasibility of developing a won-pegged stablecoin. The three companies will conduct a three-month proof of concept to assess whether OP Stack, Optimism's core technology, can be applied to blockchain-based digital financial infrastructure in South Korea.

The proof of concept will examine three areas: whether financial institutions can directly control payment and settlement processes, whether know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering requirements can be implemented technically, and whether individual transaction data can be protected on a public network. The companies will test those requirements using OP Stack and Privacy Boost, a privacy technology.

Optimism will provide the blockchain infrastructure, while Sunnyside Labs, an official core developer for Optimism, will supply the privacy technology. Privacy Boost, developed by Sunnyside Labs, is an institutional solution that shields sensitive information from external view while addressing the blockchain feature that publicly exposes transaction records and balances. Financial institutions can still review necessary transaction data, allowing customer information to be protected on a public network at a level comparable to traditional finance.

Optimism is an Ethereum layer-2 ecosystem that supports companies building their own dedicated chains through OP Stack. More than 30 chains currently operate on OP Stack, including Soneium, World and Uniswap, as well as chains from global companies and exchanges such as OKX and Kraken.

Toss, which has 30 million registered users and more than 500,000 online and offline payment points, said it plans to gradually expand experiments combining blockchain infrastructure with its payments and platform assets.

"We will prove OP Stack's performance and privacy standards in line with Toss's sophisticated technical requirements," Optimism Chief Business Officer Kyle Jenke said.

Kim Kyu-ha, chief business officer at Toss, said strict regulatory compliance and strong privacy protection are essential for successfully integrating Web3 technology into mainstream finance. Toss will test the feasibility of building digital financial infrastructure tailored to the South Korean market, he added.