Shinhan Financial and Visa Team Up to Test Stablecoin Payments in South Korea

Highlights:

• Shinhan Financial and Visa will test stablecoin issuance, transfers, redemptions, and payment services in South Korea.
• The partnership also covers AI-based payments and new services for businesses and consumers across Shinhan’s financial network.
• The companies plan to build a stablecoin model for Korea, but no launch date has been announced.

Shinhan Financial Group and Visa are expanding their partnership to develop stablecoin and digital payment services in South Korea. The companies will test how stablecoins can be issued, transferred and redeemed while developing a model that fits the Korean financial market.

According to an August 26 report from The Asia Business Daily, Shinhan Financial announced that it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Visa on August 24 at Shinhan Financial’s headquarters in central Seoul. The partnership covers digital assets, artificial intelligence-based payments and business payment services. The agreement follows discussions between the two companies in April 2026 about expanding their work in future financial services.

🇰🇷 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: Shinhan Group teams up with Visa to build a full stablecoin infrastructure covering issuance, remittance and redemption. pic.twitter.com/c76diOJgxn

— CoinMarginalX (@CoinMarginalX) August 26, 2026

Shinhan and Visa to Test Stablecoin Infrastructure

Stablecoins will be one of the main areas of the partnership. Shinhan Financial plans to use Visa’s stablecoin platform to test several key functions, including issuing stablecoins, sending them between users and redeeming them.

The two companies will also work together on a stablecoin business model designed for South Korea’s financial environment. However, Shinhan has not announced a launch date for a commercial stablecoin service. For now, the companies are focusing on testing the technology and finding ways to use it within financial services.

Their work will also look beyond basic stablecoin transfers. Shinhan and Visa plan to explore whether stablecoins can support services such as credit card bill settlement. In addition, they will test payment systems that use artificial intelligence and develop new payment services for both businesses and consumers.

Shinhan Plans to Connect Major Financial Units

Shinhan Financial wants to bring several of its major businesses into the project. The group plans to combine the financial services of Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card and Jeju Bank with Visa’s global payment network and digital infrastructure.

The companies will also explore business-to-business, or B2B, payments and business-to-consumer, or B2C, payment services. Shinhan expects the partnership to help it respond to changes in digital finance as banks and payment companies increasingly experiment with blockchain-based settlement.

Shinhan Financial Chairman Jin Ok-dong said the agreement expands the group’s long-running relationship with Visa into digital finance. He added, “We will combine Shinhan’s financial capabilities and Visa’s global infrastructure to design new future finance models together.”

Visa Expands Its Stablecoin Payment Push

The agreement comes shortly after Visa introduced its Visa Stablecoin Platform on July 16. Visa designed the platform to give financial institutions, fintech companies and digital asset businesses access to stablecoin services through one managed system. It supports functions such as accessing, storing and redeeming stablecoins.

Shinhan’s new partnership with Visa brings that infrastructure into a South Korean banking setting. The next stage will focus on testing how stablecoin technology can work alongside existing financial services before either company moves toward wider commercial use.