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Toss Tests KRW Stablecoin on Optimism in Three-Month PoC
Toss, the South Korean fintech super-app with 15M+ users, is testing a KRW stablecoin on Optimism's OP Stack in a three-month proof of concept.
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South Korea's largest fintech app is testing whether Optimism's OP Stack can power a compliant won-pegged stablecoin for payments.
Toss, the fintech super-app with more than 15 million users in South Korea, signed a memorandum of understanding with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs to run a proof of concept on a Korean won-pegged stablecoin. The three-month PoC will test whether Optimism's layer-2 infrastructure can support compliant digital currency payments in one of Asia's most tightly regulated financial markets.
The MOU, signed July 8, pairs three organizations with different skill sets. Toss brings the user base and financial services muscle. Optimism contributes its OP Stack, the modular framework powering its Ethereum layer-2 network. Sunnyside Labs rounds out the trio with privacy-focused solutions, a critical piece when dealing with regulated payments in a country that takes KYC and AML seriously.
Kyu-ha Kim, Toss's Chief Business Officer, emphasized the importance of the collaboration in understanding the feasibility of a KRW-pegged stablecoin. The PoC will assess whether the OP Stack can handle the throughput, compliance, and cost requirements a payment-grade stablecoin demands.
Back in March 2026, the company announced plans to issue a won-backed stablecoin. Then in June, Toss Bank signed a separate MOU with the Solana Foundation to test stablecoin-based remittance and settlement. The Optimism track focuses on layer-2 Ethereum infrastructure. The Solana track focuses on remittance use cases.
That's precisely why Toss is running a PoC rather than going straight to market. The company operates Toss Bank, a fully licensed digital bank, alongside its payments super-app. A stablecoin that gets shut down would be a reputational catastrophe for a platform that has spent years building trust with Korean consumers.
The risk is execution. Three months is a short window for a PoC, and the gap between "technically feasible" and "regulatorily approved" can be measured in years in South Korea. No regulatory approvals have been granted, and no specific token issuance details have been disclosed. The PoC could conclude the technology works perfectly and still sit in regulatory limbo for an extended period.