Shinhan signs Visa deal to use stablecoin platform for future finance

Shinhan Financial Group announced Wednesday that it signed a strategic business agreement with Visa for stablecoins, artificial intelligence, and business-to-business payments. The companies will prioritize stablecoin-based financial infrastructure. Shinhan plans to use Visa's stablecoin platform to verify issuance, remittance, and redemption. The companies will jointly design a business model for South Korea's financial environment. Shinhan and Visa plan to include stablecoins in pilot projects for card payment settlements. The companies plan to develop artificial intelligence-based payment models. The companies plan to expand business-to-business and business-to-consumer payment operations. Shinhan CEO Jin Ok-dong said the agreement expands the partnership into digital finance. Jin said Shinhan will combine its financial capabilities with Visa's global infrastructure to design future finance models. Shinhan plans to combine the capabilities of Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card, and Jeju Bank with Visa's payment network and digital technology in the near future. Shinhan reported net income of 1.82 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in the last quarter. Shinhan Card announced a partnership with the Solana Foundation in April to trial stablecoin payment systems on the Layer 1 blockchain. Shinhan's asset management arm later signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation, Etherfuse, and Orca to test the issuance and distribution of a Korean won-denominated tokenized fund. South Korea is pursuing legislation for a Digital Asset Basic Act covering stablecoins, virtual asset service provider licensing, and crypto exchange-traded funds.