The Era of Dollar Stablecoins: Can the Korean Won Survive? | Seo Dong-ju, Kim Dong-hwan, Kim Jun-woo, Xangle CEO

Summary

Xangle CEO Kim Jun-woo discusses the stablecoin market structure and why US dollar stablecoins are set to dominate global payment and remittance rails, while non-USD stablecoins such as yen or won lack global challenger status. He argues Korea should develop a won stablecoin defensively to protect domestic currency sovereignty and improve domestic settlement efficiency, but its success depends on building real payment use cases rather than just issuance. He also frames RWA tokenization as a later-cycle opportunity after stablecoin money movement is established.

• Stablecoins are shifting from issuance-led to usage-led; 24/7 operation, speed and lower cost are the core edge.
• US policy, including the GENIUS Act, is sequencing dollar stablecoins before RWA or securities tokenization.
• USD-pegged stablecoins already represent over 99% of stablecoin issuance.
• Non-USD stablecoins are only about 0.3% of issuance and are unlikely to become global dollar challengers.
• Japan's JPYC shows low issuance and limited real-world use despite high expectations.
• A Korean won stablecoin should be a defensive domestic tool against dollarization, not a global dollar competitor.
• Stablecoin debit-like settlement can reduce merchant costs versus credit cards, but payment distribution use cases must be built.
• Banks and big tech are preparing, but government and regulatory use-case development must move first for won stablecoin adoption.
• RWA tokenization is a later-cycle theme after basic money movement on-chain is established.