Rich by Coin

Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-ju is expanding the group’s digital asset footprint, centering strategy on stablecoins such as USDC. The group has begun USDC-based payments for foreign visitors and is accelerating the development of a deposit-token–based cross-border remittance infrastructure. This push reflects an effort to shape the future financial market by blending traditional banking safeguards with digital asset capabilities.

On March 15, Hana Financial signed a memorandum of understanding with Britain’s SC Group to cooperate on global business and digital assets. The partners will leverage each other’s overseas networks to strengthen collaboration in investment banking, money markets, and foreign exchange, while expanding joint activities in digital assets. The arrangement is seen as a plan to broaden Hana Financial’s overseas footing through SC Group’s global reach and know-how.

Hana Financial has launched USDC-based payments through its Hana Card, in collaboration with Circle, the issuer of USDC, and Crypto.com. For foreigners who fund a Crypto.com prepaid Visa card with USDC and pay at domestic merchants, 5% of the purchase is returned as CRO. Hana Card had previously signed an MoU with Circle to promote USDC-based payments and settlements. The bank intends to test digital-asset–linked payments within Korea’s domestic card infrastructure to gauge real-world demand.

In the remittance space, Hana Financial and Dunamu recently completed blockchain-based foreign currency remittance technology validation. They plan to build a deposit-token-based cross-border remittance infrastructure by the third quarter, with AML/KYC controls in place. Analysts view these moves as building a broader digital asset ecosystem connecting payments and remittance, potentially giving Hana Financial an early edge in asset distribution. Chairman Ham Young-ju said the partnership with SC Group’s networks and know-how would be a powerful competitive edge in global finance, with synergies across digital assets driving new growth opportunities.