Circle partners with Kakao, Toss Bank to explore stablecoin payment rails in South Korea

Circle announced two separate partnerships with Kakao Group and Toss Bank on Thursday, as the stablecoin issuer continues to drive its expansion in South Korea.

In a post on X, Circle said that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kakao Group to "explore blockchain-based payment infrastructure" in the country. Kakao, a major South Korean super app, operates a wide range of services, including KakaoTalk, Kakao Pay and KakaoBank.

Circle also said it is working with Toss Bank to assess opportunities for stablecoin-based payments. The internet-only bank has been expanding its presence in the crypto sector and last month announced a partnership with the Solana Foundation to develop blockchain-based financial infrastructure for global users.

The stablecoin issuer's latest partnerships build on its ongoing efforts in South Korea. In April, Circle signed agreements with Upbit and Bithumb, the two largest Korean crypto exchanges that often take up over 95% of the daily crypto trade volume in the country.

At the time, Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, said that the partnerships "span continued work in the promotion and adoption of USDC on Korean exchanges and other technology collaborations that we can pursue around some of the other things that Circle is working on."

Circle's USDC had a total supply of $74.4 billion as of Thursday, according to The Block's data dashboard. Rival stablecoin USDT, issued by Tether, had a circulating supply of $184.3 billion.

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