Dunamu, the operator of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, has entered into a strategic partnership with global payments giant Visa to explore next-generation financial services built on stablecoins and artificial intelligence.

The collaboration was formally presented on August 26 at Visa's Global Market Support Center in San Francisco by Dunamu Chief Executive Oh Kyung-seok and Visa Global President Oliver Jenkyn. Visa's Asia-Pacific entity, Visa Worldwide Pte. Limited, signed the agreement with Dunamu ahead of the event.

Combining Digital-Asset Rails With a Global Payment Network

The two companies intend to merge Dunamu's digital-asset infrastructure with Visa's global payment network to investigate new models for stablecoin payments, cross-border remittances, merchant settlement, and enhanced user experiences. The tie-up lands amid an industry-wide push into dollar-pegged tokens, whose combined circulation has climbed past a quarter-trillion dollars: Visa has settled partner transactions in Circle's USDC since 2023, PayPal launched its own PYUSD stablecoin in 2023, and Stripe acquired stablecoin infrastructure provider Bridge in 2024.

Cross-border remittances, one of the areas under joint study, remain expensive by global benchmarks: World Bank tracking shows the average cost of sending a $200 transfer has stayed above 6 percent, more than double the United Nations' 3 percent Sustainable Development Goal target.

A central component of the joint research involves evaluating business models based on the Open Standard dollar stablecoin, known as OUSD. The initiative, which counts Visa among its supporters alongside major financial and technology firms, promotes OUSD as a dollar-backed token designed for global payments without minting or redemption fees.

Dunamu was previously listed among businesses associated with the Open Standard initiative, but the company clarified in July that it had not committed to issuing OUSD or formally joining its launch. The Visa partnership confirms that both parties will now study OUSD-based frameworks, though it does not designate Dunamu as an issuer or operator of the token.

Agentic Commerce in Scope

The agreement also encompasses the emerging field of agentic commerce, in which AI systems autonomously search for products, select services, and execute payments on behalf of users. The partners plan to examine the underlying authorization, settlement, and payment processing infrastructure required for these automated transactions.

However, critical questions regarding user consent mechanisms, spending controls, fraud liability, and dispute resolution for AI-initiated purchases remain unaddressed, particularly given the irreversible nature of on-chain stablecoin transfers. The exploratory work aligns with Visa's broader June announcement of new technical frameworks for programmable payments, tokenized deposits, and AI-directed transactions. Visa had earlier introduced its Intelligent Commerce initiative in April 2025 with major AI developers including OpenAI and Microsoft to enable AI agents to make purchases using Visa credentials, while Mastercard, its largest rival, unveiled its own agentic-payments protocol, Agent Pay, in June 2025.

Regulatory and Operational Hurdles Ahead

Despite the strategic significance of the partnership, the proposed services remain in an exploratory phase, with no defined launch timeline, selected blockchain, designated custody provider, or initial target market. The companies emphasized that any product development will proceed in stages and be contingent upon applicable legal and regulatory requirements, indicating that the current agreement establishes a joint research framework rather than a committed commercial rollout.

South Korea's incomplete stablecoin legislation presents a particular challenge. National regulators and lawmakers continue to debate the issuance of won-backed tokens and potential bank ownership requirements, while dollar-denominated stablecoin services would implicate foreign-exchange, anti-money-laundering, and virtual-asset regulations. That uncertainty contrasts with the United States, where the GENIUS Act signed into law in July 2025 established the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.

Dunamu has acknowledged that the evolving regulatory environment will directly shape how the partnership progresses, and it has separately discussed stablecoin infrastructure projects with domestic technology and financial firms. Until the partners disclose a concrete pilot program — including technical architecture, asset custody arrangements, and customer eligibility criteria — the collaboration remains a long-term research and business development initiative rather than an imminent commercial offering.

Source: Metaverse Post