Japanese tourists could pay in Korea with yen stablecoins: Shinhan Card signs with two SBI units to test card, wallet and trade payments

Japanese travellers in South Korea may one day pay with yen stablecoins. Shinhan Card, a unit of Shinhan Financial, has signed an agreement with two SBI Group companies, SBI VC Trade and SBI XDC Network APAC, to explore yen-backed stablecoin payments between the two countries, CoinDesk and Cointelegraph reported. Cointelegraph said the deal was signed on Tuesday.

The plan covers card-linked payments at merchants for Japanese visitors in South Korea, wallet-to-wallet transfers and stablecoin settlement of trade between the two countries, per CoinDesk. The firms will also study systems to spot suspicious transactions and meet anti-money-laundering rules. Shinhan Card serves about 20 million cardholders.

Travel is the obvious draw. South Korea was Japan's largest source of foreign visitors in the first eight months of 2026, with 7.42 million arrivals, while Japan was South Korea's second-largest, with 2.7 million, Cointelegraph reported.

SBI Shinsei Trust Bank already issues a yen stablecoin, JPYSC, with about 20.1 billion yen, or roughly $127 million, in circulation as of September 7, according to SBI VC Trade, per CoinDesk. It can only be used inside SBI VC Trade accounts for now, and the companies have not said whether it will be part of the tests.

What comes next: the firms have not named a stablecoin or set dates for trials or a commercial launch, CoinDesk reported.