The head office of KB Financial Group in Seoul. Photo courtesy of KB Financial Group
SEOUL, April 6 (UPI) — South Korea’s KB Financial Group said Monday that Jeremy Allaire, founding CEO of U.S. digital currency firm Circle, will visit early next week to meet with its senior executives.
The Seoul-based financial group noted that the meeting would focus on strengthening bilateral collaboration and discussing concrete action plans for innovations in next-generation financial infrastructure.
In the latter part of last year, KB Financial started proof-of-concept tests using Circle Mint, a platform that enables companies to issue and manage stablecoins, primarily Circle’s USD Coin, or USDC.
From the testing, KB Financial said it was able to gain knowledge and capabilities necessary to manage digital assets via such platforms as Circle Mint.
The two firms are exploring joint business opportunities in various areas, including the domestic use of USDC, cross-border transactions and potentially issuing a Korean currency-backed stablecoin.
“The upcoming meeting with Allaire will go beyond a simple one-off event. It will serve as a catalyst to elevate the partnership between the two companies, which have already completed in-depth technical verification,” KB Financial said in a statement.
“Based on the robust cooperation framework established with Circle, we will keep beefing up our leadership in the digital asset markets at home and abroad,” KB said.
Sogang University economics professor Yoon Suk-bin pointed out that competition will intensify sharply in the market, which combines traditional money and digital currency.
“It is a major industry trend for traditional financial institutions to partner with emerging digital asset firms to build integrated platforms,” he told UPI. “Circle CEO’s visit to Seoul can be understood in that context.”
Meanwhile, Dunamu also confirmed that Allaire would meet its executives next week. The digital powerhouse is an operator of South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit.