BNK Busan Bank completes won stablecoin infrastructure pilot on Kaia Chain

BNK Busan Bank and AhnLab Blockchain Company have completed a proof of concept for a won-backed stablecoin payment and settlement system on the Kaia blockchain, giving another South Korean lender a working digital-currency model before formal regulations are in place. The pilot, conducted through the K-STAR alliance with OpenAsset, Kaia and Lambda256, tested the full lifecycle of a policy-type or local currency covering issuance, circulation, charging, payment and settlement rather than a single token transfer. The project also demonstrated programmable spending restrictions, including limits on where funds can be used, expiration dates and different settlement approaches depending on payment location. Performance tests using the bank’s operational payment data across normal, peak, irregular and 24-hour continuous scenarios achieved a 100% completion rate, with all transactions completed within one second. The work comes as South Korean banks move to secure wallet, settlement and remittance infrastructure before Seoul finalizes rules for won-backed stablecoins, with the Digital Asset Basic Act still stalled by a dispute between the Bank of Korea and the Financial Services Commission over control of issuance.