South Korean Democrats Push For Faster KRW Stablecoin Adoption
Under its larger goal to strengthen the nation's financial independence and guarantee a competitive edge in the developing digital economy, South Korea's Democratic Party is intensifying efforts to fast-track the adoption of a Korean won-backed stablecoin (KRW stablecoin).
The Democratic Party cautions against the dangers involved in depending on foreign digital currencies for local transactions, as international stablecoins like USDT and USDC are becoming more and more popular in home markets.
Chairing the Democratic Party's Digital Asset Committee, Min Byoung-dug has been actively stressing the strategic relevance of stablecoins. He contends that these digital assets might be quite important in transforming payments and protecting South Korea's financial sovereignty. Min said, stressing their ability to change financial services, 'Stablecoins are no less important than artificial intelligence or semiconductors.'
This drive is obviously urgent since South Korea's economy is closely linked with the world financial system, and unbridled capital outflows via stablecoin channels could compromise economic stability. Mostly via foreign stablecoins, nearly ₩26.9 trillion exited the nation in the first quarter of 2025 alone. Such a situation begs major questions concerning monetary management and capital flight.
Economic Sovereignty And Global Competitiveness
Advocates of a KRW stablecoin contend that, whilst maintaining financial flows inside the nation, a national digital currency might offer a safe and quick way of completing transactions. This will not only boost the nearby economy but also help to lessen reliance on stablecoins with dollar values that rule crypto markets.
The CEO of Crypton, a blockchain company, Kim Jong-seung, reflected on these worries. He cautioned that depending too much on stablecoins produced abroad may compromise South Korea's monetary sovereignty and expose the country to outside economic pressure.
Kim suggested that a KRW stablecoin supported by government bonds from South Korea may provide a dependable substitute, therefore guaranteeing stability and confidence among consumers.
Such a step would also help South Korea to match other nations investigating stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as a means of upgrading financial systems. A native stablecoin might enable South Korea to land a leading role in Asia's growing crypto scene as rivalry in the digital currency market gets fiercer.
Public Interest and Obstacles to Regulation
The Democratic Party's plan appeals to a public surge in interest in digital assets. According to surveys, more than thirty per cent of South Koreans have made investments in cryptocurrencies; trading activity on local exchanges matches that of conventional stock markets. This wave of interest offers rich ground for the launch of a KRW stablecoin, which would probably be highly sought by tech-savvy consumers and companies looking for simplified payment options.
Still, technical and legal obstacles abound. Already, the Bank of Korea is running a 100,000 citizen pilot program to evaluate the feasibility of a central bank digital currency in retail and wholesale uses. Although this CBDC is not a stablecoin specifically, it shows the central bank's openness to digital currency innovation, a promising indication for the Democratic Party's quest.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
I Watched the Democrats Lose Muslim Support Last Election. This Gave Me Hope for 2026.
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. In late May, I joined roughly two dozen Muslim entrepreneurs, community leaders, nonprofit organizers, and student activists around a very large table for a closed‑door strategy meeting with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. There was no other press, no recording. Emgage Action, a leading Muslim American advocacy organization, welcomed me to observe on the condition that before I quoted anyone, I would first get their consent. We were there to discuss the role of Muslims in the Democratic Party. Many in the room had grown convinced that national Democratic leaders prefer the Muslims in their party to stay quiet and fall in line. In 2024 national party leaders all but ignored months of protests in support of Gaza, backed on-campus police crackdowns, then blamed 'disinformation' when Muslim and Arab American voters staged protest abstentions that helped tip Michigan, Minnesota, and key New Jersey counties to Donald Trump. Many in the room saw that sequence as Democrat leadership's agenda coming down to 'Please hold your nose,' and proof the party values Muslim turnout but not Muslim input. Baraka's counter‑thesis was simple: Fight for them, and they'll fight for you. It is the opposite of what Muslim organizers say they experienced from party leaders in 2024, the cycle Democrats lost to Donald Trump. When Baraka arrived in the room where we waited, it was just after 8 a.m. He was tieless, wearing a solid‑black dashiki, and he spoke softly at first, almost cautious. If anyone expected the fiery mayor who had dominated cable news earlier in the week—handcuffed by federal agents and hauled into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement jail—they found a calmer figure instead. Five days before this gathering, Baraka had joined three members of Congress at Delaney Hall, the recently reopened ICE detention center in Newark, the city he governs. They intended a surprise inspection. Video shows agents ordering them off the property; Baraka complied, stepping back onto the public sidewalk. They arrested him anyway. By that evening, supporters from civil‑rights and faith groups, including Muslim organizers, were rallying outside the detention center where he was being held. He was released that night; the trespass charge evaporated in court 10 days later. But even as the Department of Homeland Security dropped the charges against him, it brought new ones against Rep. LaMonica McIver, one of the lawmakers he had been with.* The whole thing had been a jarring experience, and Baraka has been blunt: 'It's just authoritarianism. … These people are committed to this foolishness. They're going to go as far as they can to not look completely ridiculous because what they did was wrong. They had no jurisdiction over there in the first place.' In that closed-door meeting, the questions posed to Baraka circled three themes: affordability, taxes, and Palestine. Two of those topics are par for the course, though the Newark mayor certainly has thoughts on them. On Palestine, Baraka had a real chance to differentiate himself from the rest of the Democratic party. When multiple attendees referenced student sanctions and job losses across industries in response to their stances on Gaza, Baraka replied that Muslims should be able to criticize U.S. or Israeli policy without being labeled unpatriotic or antisemitic. Throughout, he linked those answers to a wider critique of his own party. 'The leadership of the party has been pretty docile and comfortable and have completely isolated their base across the country.' His prescription was the opposite of caution. 'We can't move in a timid fashion. We have to move with force, with courage, with strength, and we have to move together.' The room nodded, but the primary electorate had a different answer when it came to the race for the Democratic candidate for New Jersey governor. Two weeks later Baraka lost decisively to Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Navy pilot turned moderate whose campaign leaned on the county machines, saturated the suburbs with ads about property taxes, and avoided Gaza discourse almost entirely. Sherrill's pitch was electability: She promised to 'keep New Jersey blue' without scaring swing voters in Bergen and Monmouth. Baraka, who came in second, couldn't match her donor network and party support that still decides most downballot races. New Jersey is home to an estimated 320,000 Muslims, about 3.5 percent of residents. In 2021 Phil Murphy won reelection by roughly 85,000 votes. Despite those numbers, many of the Muslim community leaders I spoke to voiced their disapproval of how state and national strategists have long treated them as an afterthought—phoning in Eid greetings, skipping hard policy conversations, and assuming they'll continue to view the Democratic Party as their home regardless of outreach or collaboration. Baraka's strategy was different—he focused on reaching out to them. This, however, seemed to double as a flex to show the problem with complacency: If a bloc this large can be energized in an off-cycle primary, what could it do in a presidential year? Baraka spent one of his last days before the primary courting the population, and I tagged along. When I asked his main objective for the tour, he said he wanted to 'galvanize the Muslim community in New Jersey. If we do that, that will be good.' His theory was straightforward: turn a reliable but under-organized bloc into a decisive one and show national Democrats what they risk when they take that bloc for granted. Baraka's Muslim itinerary tracks almost perfectly with census clusters and past underperformance, like Paterson and North Brunswick. I followed Baraka north to Paterson, home to one of the nation's largest Palestinian communities. The visit was brief. He introduced himself as a candidate for governor in cafés on Main Street and took quick photos with voters. One man called out 'Barakah!'—pronouncing it like the Arabic word for 'blessing'—before snapping a selfie. Another passerby whispered, 'That's the guy Trump arrested.' Where party strategists in 2024 feared alienating moderates, Baraka has spent his state-wide campaign courting voters the party lost. Where operatives believed that Gaza activism endangered swing districts, Baraka has argued that silence costs more. Muslim organizers note that only a few statewide Democrats have held unrestricted Q&A's with them since last cycle. Baraka's willingness to do so anchors his appeal. Baraka's grassroots strategy lost—but it still netted 163,563 votes, enough to lift him surprisingly to second place and to carry New Jersey's most populous county, Essex. Those numbers didn't carry him past Sherrill, yet they did remind operatives that a bloc the size of New Jersey's Muslim population matters to the statewide margin. Now that the governor's race is over, Muslim leaders sound cautiously optimistic. They want movement—on surveillance reform, on ceasefire resolutions, on small-business aid—before they'll call this a realignment. But they also say the door is now open. If statewide Democrats walk through it before 2026, Baraka's unsuccessful bid could mark the start of a voter bloc returning to a party that once counted on it. If they don't, the silence of 2024 might echo again when the presidential race comes calling.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Kraken Launches Crypto's Attempt at a Venmo-Killer
Kraken's rising from the decentralized deep to capsize a big ship: traditional finance. The crypto platform launched a peer-to-peer payments app yesterday that lets users instantly send 300+ crypto tokens, stablecoins and fiat currencies to friends and family in more than 100 countries. Anyone who has had to split a check with new hostel friends knows that rivals Venmo and Zelle only support payments between US users. Kraken's app, called Krak, also doesn't charge fees for cross-border payments or transfers from one currency to another, setting it apart from PayPal. Kraken's app is meant to serve as an entry point to digital assets for the crypto-cautious, with rewards of up to 10% on Krak account balances to entice new users. Krak is also part of Kraken's push into traditional finance to diversify revenue ahead of a planned IPO. READ ALSO: Dwindling IPOs Reward Investors With Return Bonanza and After Reclaiming 'World's Most Valuable Company' Crown, Nvidia Gilds the Tiara Those are the words of Kraken exec Mark Greenberg as Kraken and other crypto companies try to put their blockchain-backed spins on traditional finance: Kraken debuted tokens that represent US equities for non-US users, letting them trade representations of stocks like Nvidia and Tesla over the blockchain. It also bought futures-trading platform NinjaTrader this spring for $1.5 billion. Crypto exchange Coinbase teamed up with Shopify to launch a payments platform (creatively named Coinbase Payments) that lets merchants accept payments using the stablecoin USDC. The issuer of USDC, Circle, also introduced a cross-border payments network this spring. At the same time, TradFi isn't going down without a fight: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are reportedly exploring the creation of a joint stablecoin, and brokerages like Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab are working on adding crypto trading. Hot Coin Summer: The line between traditional and digital finance has grown blurry in the Trump era as regulatory actions against crypto companies have eased. In March, the SEC dropped a lawsuit accusing Kraken of operating an unregistered securities exchange, following the agency's abandonment of a similar suit against rival Coinbase. Both sides of the finance world have read the new room and aren't missing the opportunity to try to eat each other's lunch. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive delivering razor sharp analysis and perspective on all things finance, economics, and markets, subscribe to our free The Daily Upside newsletter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Who is Mitchell Berger, the Fort Lauderdale Democrat chairing David Jolly governor campaign?
Mitchell Berger has never run for office. But he knows a lot about candidates and campaigns. The Fort Lauderdale lawyer who has held numerous campaign and government roles has now signed on as campaign chair for David Jolly, a Democratic candidate for governor. Democrats have won six statewide elections since 2002; Republicans have won 32. Democrats haven't won a governor's race in more than three decades. Berger said his party needs a different approach, one that is offered by Jolly. 'We need to build a coalition of people who are willing to do something a little differently,' Berger said in his introduction of the candidate to several hundred people at a reception before the Florida Democratic Party's Leadership Blue fundraising dinner at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood on June 21. 'David Jolly is willing to build that coalition, but all of us need to do something,' Berger urged. Jolly is a former Republican member of Congress who left that party during President Donald Trump's first term. With Democrats far behind Republicans in registered voters in Florida, Jolly said his campaign needs to attract no party affiliation/independent voters and at least some Republicans. He asked Democrats 'to think about this and I'm going to ask you to commit to this as well.' Dreaming big, Florida Democrats see path to start winning elections again Don't despair, Andy Beshear and Cory Booker tell Florida Democrats Threats from 'people who are quite frankly lunatics' fuel bill shielding officials' home addresses Josh Weil says he can overcome Florida GOP tide and defeat U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody Democratic governor candidate says he'll seek support from Florida gun owners — and stricter gun regulations Alexander Vindman, key witness in first Trump impeachment, may run for U.S. Senate in Florida 'This race, the governor's race, is about a singular issue. It's about the affordability crisis in the state of Florida that's been created by Republicans and they don't have an answer to get us out,' he said. Concentrate on that, and don't let the Florida contest become a referendum on President Donald Trump, Jolly urged. 'Our opponents will want to make this race without the president of the United States. Don't take the bait. Don't take the bait.' Berger has a long political resume supporting candidates from different wings of the Democratic party, from establishment centrists to progressives. At 19, he went from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Atlanta and volunteered at the headquarters of Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign. A college student in Pennsylvania at the time, Berger worked as Carter's field organizer in the Lehigh Valley, and later worked in the Carter administration's Department of Transportation. A longtime close political associate of former Vice President Al Gore, Berger was among the attorneys who represented Gore in the tumultuous aftermath of the 2000 presidential election in which Gore lost Florida, and consequently the election, to George W. Bush. He's been a campaign fundraiser for local, state and national campaigns. He's been finance chair for previous gubernatorial campaigns, most recently for Nikki Fried's unsuccessful campaign for the 2022 Democratic nomination for governor. Fried is now chair of the state Democratic Party. Berger is founder of the Fort Lauderdale-based Berger Singerman law firm, which also has offices in Miami, Orlando, Tallahassee, Tampa and West Palm Beach. He was a director, and eventually chairman, of the Student Loan Marketing Association under former President Bill Clinton. He also was an appointee of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles to the South Florida Water Management District governing board. Political writer Anthony Man can be reached at aman@ and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.
