Stablecoins could save South Korean merchants $3.8B annually, budget office finds

South Korea’s merchants pay a lot to accept credit cards. A new government analysis says stablecoins could fix that, to the tune of billions of dollars per year. The country’s National Assembly Budget Office published a study on September 8 projecting that won-denominated stablecoins could slash merchant payment fees by 370 billion won ($275 million) to 5.15 trillion won ($3.8 billion) annually. The wide range depends on how aggressively merchants adopt the technology and how dramatically fee structures change. The fee gap that makes this possible Traditional card transaction fees in South Korea run about 1.3% to 1.5% per swipe. Stablecoin-based payments could bring that down to 0.1% to 0.3%. The study focused specifically on won-denominated stablecoins rather than the dollar-pegged tokens that currently dominate global markets. As of July 2026, dollar-linked stablecoins comprised 98.8% of the total global stablecoin market, which stood at approximately $312.3 billion. Two regulators, two visions The Budget Office’s analysis didn’t just project savings. It also flagged real risks: potential bank deposit outflows that could undermine credit intermediation, and peg instability during...