South Korea’s push for a won stablecoin is gaining urgency as lawmakers consider legislation that supporters say could cut annual payment costs by 1.7 trillion won, or about $1.23 billion. The headline figure, presented by Korea Economic Research Institute senior fellow Lee Seung-seok, centers on shortening delays tied to international payments.
Following a KRW payment from a Korean sender to an overseas recipient shows where those savings could emerge, and which costs would continue even if settlement moved onto stablecoin infrastructure.
Where a KRW Cross-Border Payment Gets Expensive
A conventional overseas payment can take two to five business days. Before money leaves South Korea, the sending bank may need to check invoices, trade documents or declarations required under Korean foreign-exchange rules.
A mismatch can lead to manual review before the bank even sends the SWIFT instruction. Stablecoin settlement would not automatically remove those regulatory checks.
Timing creates another delay. Payments submitted late in Seoul can miss clearing windows in Europe or North America, adding 12 to 24 hours before the next institution processes the transaction.
The payment can then move through several correspondent banks. Each intermediary handles its own messaging, compliance filters and processing queues. Where the Korean bank lacks a direct relationship with the recipient’s bank, additional correspondent institutions may enter the chain. Those banks can also deduct lifting or processing charges of roughly $10 to $50 each, depending on how transfer fees are allocated.
What a Won Stablecoin Could Remove
A won stablecoin could address the settlement layers behind much of Lee’s projected 1.7 trillion won annual savings.
If the payment moves directly through stablecoin infrastructure, it could avoid some correspondent-bank hops, intermediary processing queues and banking-hour delays. That would also reduce the settlement timing problem created when payments wait for overseas clearing windows.
The proposal, therefore, targets more than transfer speed. Fewer intermediaries could also mean fewer correspondent processing deductions and less time between payment initiation and final receipt. However, Lee’s $1.23 billion estimate specifically links the savings to reducing SWIFT-related payment delays. It does not mean every current cross-border payment expense would disappear.
FX and Compliance Costs Would Remain
Foreign-exchange conversion would still matter whenever the overseas recipient needs dollars, euros, or another local currency rather than won.
Today, KRW payments may require conversion into a bridge currency, such as the U.S. dollar, before reaching the final currency. Banks and intermediaries can apply FX markups of roughly 1.5% to 3.5% above mid-market rates.
A won stablecoin could remove some payment layers, but it would not eliminate the need to exchange KRW-linked value when the final obligation uses another currency. Likewise, Korean foreign-exchange documentation and regulatory requirements would remain separate from the settlement technology.
Related: Bank of Korea Urges Bank-Only Stablecoins to Prevent Money Laundering
