Stablecoins could save South Korean merchants up to $3.8 billion a year, budget office says

# Stablecoins could save South Korean merchants up to $3.8 billion a year, budget office says

> Evidence tier: B1
> Evidence type: Independent digital-asset report corroborated by the National Assembly Budget Office's official release
> Source: [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/09/08/stablecoins-could-save-south-korean-merchants-up-to-usd3-8-billion-a-year-budget-office-says)
> Published: 2026-09-08
> Captured: 2026-09-08T12:47:17.022Z

## Source summary

CoinDesk reports on a September 8 analysis by South Korea's National Assembly Budget Office. The official release estimates that won-stablecoin substitution could reduce annual merchant payment fees by KRW 0.37 trillion to KRW 5.15 trillion, approximately USD 275 million to USD 3.8 billion, depending on substitution and fee assumptions. The office says current links between domestic dollar-stablecoin trading and conventional markets remain limited, while wider adoption could increase risks to bank intermediation, monetary policy and peg stability.

## Why it matters

The analysis gives policymakers a quantified scenario for merchant economics and identifies payment-efficiency and financial-stability trade-offs in won-stablecoin design. The range is conditional modelling, not realised savings, merchant adoption, a live payment rail or an enacted regulatory framework. The low and high estimates depend on assumptions, and the report itself says current market linkages are limited; dollar conversions are approximate.

## Key numbers

- **Estimated annual merchant-fee savings:** KRW 0.37 trillion to KRW 5.15 trillion
- **Approximate U.S.-dollar equivalent:** USD 275 million to USD 3.8 billion
- **Dollar-backed share of the global stablecoin market cited by the report:** 98.8%

## Topics and entities

- Industry lane: Web3 & stablecoin payments
- Entities: South Korea National Assembly Budget Office
- Web3 payments
- Payment infrastructure

## Evidence and credibility note

Independent CoinDesk report corroborated by the South Korean National Assembly Budget Office's September 8 release. The official source supports the conditional savings range and risk framing; it does not establish realised savings, adoption, a live rail or causation, and the U.S.-dollar equivalents are approximate.

Date evidence: Automatically verified from JSON-LD datePublished: 2026-09-08T09:51:01.057Z

## First-party corroboration

- [https://www.nabo.go.kr/ko/notice/releasesView.do?idx=9430&key=2507040045](/en/items/https://www.nabo.go.kr/ko/notice/releasesView.do?idx=9430&key=2507040045)

## Original-source traceback

[Open the original CoinDesk report](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/09/08/stablecoins-could-save-south-korean-merchants-up-to-usd3-8-billion-a-year-budget-office-says)

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This is a structured Payments Hot Markdown source summary derived from external reporting. Use the original link above to read the publisher's article; copyright remains with the original publisher.