Naver Financial, the fintech arm of South Korea's tech giant Naver, unveiled a wallet for a local stablecoin project in Busan, South Korea's second-largest city.
The project has completed development and is now in its final testing phase. It was created in partnership with Korean venture capital firm Hashed and the Busan Digital Asset Exchange (BDAN), and is set to launch next month.
The wallet will allow residents and visitors of Busan to exchange regular currencies for "Dongbaek-jeon," a local stablecoin. Dongbaek-jeon is already used as a regional currency, similar to a credit card system, as well as offers cashback benefits to local users. The city of Busan introduced it to boost local commerce and encourage spending.
Currently issued by BNK Busan Bank, the currency is looking into moving from a prepaid point system to a stablecoin format. Dongbaek-jeon is popular, with around 1.5 million users each month.
Naver Financial plans to connect the new wallet with its existing Naver Pay Wallet service. However, the full features of the stablecoin wallet may not be available until South Korea creates regulations for local currency-backed stablecoins.
The development of the stablecoin wallet project began in May, with Hashed and BDAN providing the technology, while Naver utilized its existing payment systems to set up the wallet.
At the same time, Naver is reportedly merging with Dunamu, the company behind South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit. This merger will happen through a stock-swap deal, as well as once completed, Dunamu plans to go public on the Nasdaq as a part of Naver.
Naver, known for its popular search engine in South Korea, reported a revenue of 3.14 trillion Korean won (USD 2.32 billion) and an operating profit of 570.6 billion won ($422.67 million) in the third quarter.
Dunamu also saw strong growth, with a 35% raise in quarterly revenue, reaching 385.9 billion won (USD 262.87 million), and its net profit surged 145% to 239 billion won (USD 162.80 million) during the same period.