Non-Dollar Stablecoins Gain Momentum Across Asia and Beyond

Financial firms in several markets are moving toward stablecoins denominated in currencies other than the US dollar, according to reporting from CoinDesk and BitKE.

Reap, a company backed by Payward, is preparing to introduce a Mexican peso stablecoin and is examining tokens tied to the Hong Kong dollar, the euro, the Korean won and the Japanese yen, CoinDesk reported. The aim is to enable foreign exchange settlement outside standard banking hours, supporting round-the-clock, on-chain currency transactions.

In South Korea, payments provider Kakao Pay and KakaoBank have signed a memorandum of understanding with digital-asset infrastructure firm Fireblocks to study stablecoin and other digital-asset infrastructure as the country builds out its regulatory framework, BitKE reported. The companies plan to run proof-of-concept tests and evaluate infrastructure that meets South Korea's regulatory, security and service requirements. No launch date, investment figure or implementation timeline was disclosed.