Chainlink and LG CNS Announce Partnership on Korean Won Stablecoins

Korean won stablecoins are the focus of a strategic partnership Chainlink and LG CNS announced on Oct. 22. LG CNS is the IT and AI services arm of South Korea's LG Group. The two companies will work to expand the use and distribution of won stablecoins and jointly develop technical standards for Korea's digital asset sector.

The deal widens a relationship the two companies set up just over two weeks earlier. On Oct. 6, LG CNS unveiled its KITL blockchain infrastructure platform and signed memorandums of understanding with five firms: Circle, Securitize, the Canton Foundation, Chainalysis and Chainlink.

Under the new agreement, LG CNS will integrate Chainlink's cross-chain, data and orchestration tools into its Digital Asset Platform Solution, which targets Korean financial institutions. The companies listed three areas of work. The first is linking blockchain networks with institutional systems. The second is building oracle, interoperability and cross-chain standards for regulated digital assets in Korea, and the third is developing the broader technical rulebook for the market.

"Korea's financial infrastructure is entering the tokenization era,"

Hongkeun Kim, LG CNS

Johann Eid of Chainlink Labs said the partnership "establishes the foundation for compliant digital asset infrastructure in Korea." Kim added that the work aims "to accelerate the growth of Korea's tokenized securities market by enabling secure interoperability and real-world data."

LG CNS is lead contractor on Project Hangang, the Bank of Korea's digital currency initiative, whose first phase involved about 80,000 customers across seven Korean banks. The announcement did not confirm that Chainlink's technology will be used directly in that project.

The companies put Korea's digital asset market at $68 billion, with more than 11 million eligible users. The won ranks second only to the U.S. dollar by crypto trading volume. LG Group holds about 186 trillion won ($140.5 billion) in assets across 63 affiliates.

No financial terms, named customers or launch date were disclosed.

The legal footing is also unsettled. South Korea does not yet have a clear legal basis for won stablecoins, and lawmakers are still working on the Digital Asset Basic Act.

Chainlink already works with Swift, Euroclear, Mastercard and UBS. The LG CNS deal follows other stablecoin infrastructure work by the oracle network, including its expanded partnership with Wyoming on reserve verification for the state's FRNT stablecoin.