Starting from the mainland, using the surrounding areas as a starting point, gradually exploring the use cases of stablecoins worldwide and the opportunities hidden behind them.
I actually don't want to mention Luna and UST, but when it comes to stablecoins in South Korea, Luna's peak is an unavoidable milestone (if it hadn't collapsed).
The main reason I mention Luna is to highlight how much support South Korea has for Web3 and how much market recognition there is.
A few days ago, I watched Squid Game 2, and as long as the background is set in recent years of South Korean film and television: cryptocurrency is a term that appears quite frequently.
All of this proves that South Korea actually has inherent advantages for stablecoins.
A high user adoption rate means that when stablecoins are issued, it is easier to open up the market.
A high level of compliance means that while other countries may take years or even decades to achieve compliance, South Korea can complete it quickly.
Most importantly: after Lee Jae-myung was elected president, he promised to promote a stablecoin market pegged to the Korean won to prevent capital outflow and enhance national financial sovereignty, and he also pushed for the release of the "Basic Law on Digital Assets."
Among influential countries, the United States and South Korea should be the only two openly supporting stablecoins, right?
However, of course, there are many people in South Korea working on stablecoins; which ones can actually make it?
Actually, there's no need to list them because it's simple: aside from those traditional Web2 companies that are researching stablecoins, there is only one Web3 project in South Korea that is implementing stablecoins: @KaiaChain.
Unlike Hong Kong, which is still in the regulatory implementation phase but has not yet launched products, Kaia in South Korea has not only completed the compliance process but has also been practically implemented.
(On this point, it must be said: South Korea's Web3 development is indeed leading in Asia, while Hong Kong is slightly lagging behind.)
📒 Relevant information about its stablecoin: Users can complete KYC directly with their passports, with no complex certification requirements (currently only overseas users are allowed, but support for Korean users will be available within this year).
✍️ Web2 applications: mainly divided into two aspects.
1. One is offline: this stablecoin can be directly exchanged for Korean won (an enhanced version of the Alipay free exchange function) and can also be exchanged for 85 other fiat currencies (not only usable in South Korea but also in other countries).
It also supports direct use (for example, transportation cards, Lotte Mart physical stores, N Seoul Tower, and other popular tourist spots).
In terms of offline physical scene applications, Kaia is ahead of the world; currently, the stablecoin offline payment in the U.S. is not as developed.
2. The other is online: yes, you read that right. It's not about Web3 integration, but rather Web2 online integration.
Kaia has integrated payment channels with LINE and KakaoTalk, opening up relevant stablecoin payment scenarios.
Together, they have 250 million users and a GMV of 400 billion USD, maintaining an annual growth rate of about 20%.
If you're not clear about the huge conversion value, you can look at WeChat, which used social interaction as a breakthrough to help users form payment habits. Nowadays, its market share is almost on par with Alipay, which specializes in payments.
📖 Web3 applications: In addition to Web2 scenarios, on-chain support is also essential for on-chain stablecoins.
This is mainly divided into external cooperation and self-support:
1. Self-support: Kaia uses mini-games as a hook and has already attracted over 65 million users on the LINE platform. These users are all strong supporters of future stablecoin usage.
On-chain data is also outstanding: currently, the number of new wallets created on Kaia has exceeded 100 million, with on-chain active user growth exceeding 280%, reaching nearly 9.5 million. This stablecoin has already supported many on-chain scenarios such as payments, DeFi, and cross-border transfers.
2. External cooperation: Not only on-chain, but Kaia has also made many layouts at the user entry level in exchanges and wallets:
Currently, top exchanges like Bitfinex, Bybit, and Gate have integrated and support the deposit and withdrawal of Kaia stablecoins.
In terms of wallets: commonly used wallets in the market such as SafePal, TokenPocket, and Bitget Wallet have also supported display and usage.
🛫 What is currently being done
Of course, the USD stablecoin is just the beginning; the longer-term goal is the KRW stablecoin, and Kaia has already started laying the groundwork in this area.
Just today, Kaia, in collaboration with Tether, KakaoPay, LINE NEXT, and Ratel, held a KRW stablecoin marathon competition with a prize of 10 million KRW.
This stablecoin competition will feature a keynote speech by Min Byeong-deok, the architect of South Korea's "Basic Law on Digital Assets," which also indirectly shows how deep Kaia's relationship with the South Korean leadership is.
Of course, the hackathon is just a rehearsal; the strong underlying infrastructure is essential to encourage B-end stablecoin builders to participate in construction and C-end users to adopt it on a large scale.
And this is clearly one of Kaia's advantages: whether it's the instant confirmation of underlying transactions or the Gas proxy and account abstraction functions, they all lay a solid foundation for large-scale adoption at the product and technical levels.
🆚 Comparison of mainstream stablecoin public chain data
Currently, the trading volume of the South Korean stablecoin market is around 200 billion USD per year. As a government-supported and user-recognized stablecoin issuer, even if Kaia captures 50% of that market, it would account for 100 billion USD in trading volume, which is not a small number.
I made a simple comparison of the current mainstream stablecoin public chains to give you a reference, and I believe you can see the differences and expectations.
Even if Kaia's KRW stablecoin issuance reaches 10 billion USD, with this market coverage and official support, 10 billion should not be too much. If each stablecoin circulates more than 10 times, that would mean a trading volume of 100 billion USD. There is still a 100-fold space to reach the market value of other public chains.
This is a somewhat one-sided comparison, not considering ecological conditions and other variable factors. But for example, in the case of Tron: the ecosystem is not very developed; it relies on stablecoins to sustain itself.
🤔 A lot of thoughts
1. As the first public chain in South Korea, Kaia indeed has impressive aspects: it has considered all possible factors.
Using policy support as a product endorsement, using technology and products as the foundation for large-scale adoption, and using online and offline, self-support and external market expansion as practical implementation solutions.
Let me make a casual prediction: Kaia's stablecoin will be the first KRW stablecoin and will also be the world's first stablecoin to support large-scale online and offline payments.
2. My personal understanding: the USDT stablecoin currently issued by Kaia is like a test coin for the KRW stablecoin, paving the way for the KRW stablecoin in terms of technology, offline scenarios, online scenarios, and policy compliance.
This will facilitate a quick capture of the South Korean market once the KRW stablecoin is issued.
3. It can be seen that the approach to stablecoins in South Korea is very different from that in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong: Stablecoin sandbox ➡️ Stablecoin legislation ➡️ Stablecoin issuance ➡️ Stablecoin application.
Step by step, the advantage is stability and reliability, but the downside is that it is too slow.
In contrast, South Korea is implementing multiple stages such as legislation, issuance, and landing simultaneously.
For the blue ocean market of stablecoins, sometimes the first-mover advantage is indeed necessary to seize the opportunity.
4. The current issuance of the USDT stablecoin is just the beginning; the KRW stablecoin should be seen in the not-too-distant future (the aforementioned hackathon is also a preparation for the KRW stablecoin).
5. Similarly, as Kaia continues to solidify its position as South Korea's first public chain through stablecoins,
It can be anticipated that after the issuance of stablecoins in South Korea, Kaia's data will also experience explosive growth, and all of this will feed back into the $KAIA token. Looking forward to the day when the token takes off.
6. By the way, I will be going to South Korea in a few days, and I will personally practice and provide feedback to everyone, haha.