Rich by Coin

The global stablecoin market is increasingly serving as a de facto monetary infrastructure. On-chain stablecoin payments and remittances totaled about $33 trillion in 2025, up 72% from the prior year, and most of this activity centers on dollar-linked stablecoins. While the market is maturing as a unified monetary infrastructure, it remains dominated by dollar-stablecoins.

The United States’ strategy is straightforward: promote privately issued dollar-backed stablecoins (USDT, USDC) and ban or tightly restrict a retail central bank digital currency (retail CBDC). Lawmakers and the administration are weighing bills and executive orders to prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing direct retail CBDCs to individuals. As a result, the United States pursues digital-dollar globalization through private stablecoins, treating CBDCs as a political and privacy risk.

Korea is moving quickly on CBDC and deposit tokens, but its strategy for stablecoins remains largely empty. The Bank of Korea’s Project Han River Phase 2 builds on CBDC-based wholesale payments and adds a deposit token to test retail payments and fiscal disbursements. Last year’s pilot validated the use of deposit tokens for convenience-store payments and government subsidies, with partners including banks and retailers. There remains little plan for privately issued won-stablecoins, and progress on the two-stage law has been slow.

Korea should build a ‘control tower’ to coordinate CBDC, deposit tokens, and private won-stablecoins, and decide whether to emulate the U.S. private-stablecoin model or pursue a different approach. Without a coherent strategy, three risks loom: greater dependence on digital dollars, erosion of the won’s on-chain funding role for RWA and tokenized securities, and the potential outflow of domestic Web3 and fintech innovation. Ultimately, a central authority empowered to coordinate currency, finance, industry, and FX policy is needed to implement a unified plan. Crafting such a ‘one-stop’ strategy—owned by the right institution and aligned with a global role—should be Korea’s immediate priority.