Overview
- Gyeonggi Province has formally confirmed a government-backed proof-of-concept led by blockchain firm ZKrypto to test a won-linked stablecoin in a controlled provincial program.
- The pilot will run in phases that first test core functions such as issuance, circulation, and settlement and then evaluate fraud prevention, privacy protections, and use in public benefit programs.
- ZKrypto says the system will use zero-knowledge proofs to prevent duplicate spending while protecting user data and proof-of-reserves tools to verify backing assets in real time.
- Parallel private-sector work is advancing infrastructure for won stablecoins, including a Toss agreement with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs for a technical proof-of-concept and KT’s multiyear investment plans that name tokenization and stablecoin services.
- Taken together, these coordinated public and private experiments aim to judge whether domestic stablecoins can meet South Korea’s operational needs and regulatory standards and could push wider tokenization of payments and government disbursements.