Injective targets tokenized asset settlement with 100% won-backed Korean stablecoin
Key Facts
Injective said its collaboration with BDACS aims to establish the KRW1 stablecoin as a Korean won-denominated settlement asset for tokenized real-world assets within its ecosystem. The issuer says the stablecoin is 100% backed by won, with cash collateral held in an escrow account at Woori Bank, which it described as a strategic partner. The proposed collaboration links a Korean currency-denominated stablecoin with settlement of real-world assets tokenized on the Injective network. However, the partnership announcement makes issuance and redemption for approved institutional partners subject to regulatory approval. As for the stablecoin's current commercial activity, its official website says issuance and distribution are limited to selected institutions that have met strict know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering requirements.
Against the backdrop of this institutional push, BDACS said its assets under custody exceeded 80 billion won during the first half of 2026. That figure relates to the company's custody business, while the stablecoin's website limits its commercial use to eligible institutions. For its part, Injective announced that its institutional services arm had registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a securities transfer agent. The Injective Mint platform allows issuers to restrict which entities can receive and hold a tokenized asset, according to the platform's announcement. Those entities are identified through a list of approved addresses, giving issuers a way to restrict ownership of assets they issue through the platform.
Tokenized asset projects announced by Injective include Pineapple, which aims to move its historical portfolio of funded mortgages to digital records on the network over time. Injective said the targeted portfolio comprises more than 29 thousand funded mortgages with a total value exceeding $10 billion. The stated goal is to transfer the entire historical portfolio gradually, as part of a project to digitize those loan records on the network. In another area of institutional assets, Injective announced a pilot with POSCO International and LG CNS to tokenize trade receivables. Those receivables arise from actual international trade, according to the network's announcement, which described POSCO as South Korea's largest trading company and LG CNS as LG Group's technology arm.
Alongside Injective's initiative, BDACS announced the launch of KRW1 on the Arc mainnet, describing it as the first South Korean stablecoin operating on the network. The launch is part of a technical expansion that includes the stablecoin's ability to move between different networks, alongside its proposed use in tokenized asset settlement. LayerZero said the company had selected its Omnichain Fungible Token standard to support interoperability for the Korean stablecoin. Stargate, LayerZero's cross-chain transfer application, is used to execute transfers between those networks. The announced expansion thus encompasses operation on a mainnet and the selection of a transfer standard, while issuance and redemption within the Injective ecosystem remain subject to regulatory approval.
In foreign exchange, BDACS presented a demonstration of a swap between KRW1 and the USDC stablecoin, executed on a testnet. The company said the demonstration aimed to show the technical potential for settling foreign exchange transactions on-chain through a trial exchange of the two currencies. Describing the trial, the company said, "The testnet demonstration of a KRW1-USDC swap shows the technical feasibility of on-chain foreign exchange settlement." As it develops KRW1-based foreign exchange services, the company plans to draw on the capabilities of Circle's StableFX platform. Its announcement identifies the expansion of foreign exchange services as a next step, alongside the technical demonstration it conducted in a test environment to settle the swap between the two currencies.
The stablecoin's intended uses extend to card payments, with BDACS announcing a partnership with Rain to enable purchases backed by the KRW1 stablecoin. The company said users would be able to make card transactions at more than 175 million merchants that accept Visa cards. The acceptance footprint cited in the partnership announcement covers more than 200 countries within the network targeted for this use. The company framed availability in future terms, saying, "Users will be able to make card transactions backed by the KRW1 stablecoin." The partnership adds an intended use in purchases of goods and services to the tokenized asset settlement and foreign exchange services outlined in announcements by the company and its partners.
On the Korean legislative front, a BDACS newsletter said the government was finalizing interagency consultations on the proposed Digital Asset Basic Act. The newsletter added that the government was seeking swift passage of the bill, among the regulatory developments covered by the company. The implementation step for the Injective collaboration is to make issuance and redemption available to approved institutions after the required regulatory approval is obtained. The partnership announcement states that "issuance and redemption will be available to approved institutional partners, subject to regulatory approval." Alongside this initiative, BDACS intends to expand stablecoin-based foreign exchange services using Circle's capabilities, while current commercial issuance and distribution of KRW1 remain limited to selected institutions.