South Korea's National Assembly Budget Office has modeled how won-denominated stablecoins could reduce merchant payment costs, while calling for safeguards against deposit outflows and mass redemptions. The study was published September 8, according to reporting by Blockmedia and Digital Asset.

Savings depend on adoption and fees

Blockmedia reports an estimated annual saving of ₩370 billion to ₩5.15 trillion, calculated using last year's domestic payment-card spending. These are scenario estimates, not measured savings from a deployed payment system.

The upper figure assumes stablecoins replace 30% of card payments, with a card fee of 1.5% and a stablecoin fee of 0.1%. Digital Asset separately reports that the analysis tests replacement rates of 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30%.

That distinction matters for merchants and payment developers: the potential benefit depends both on how much spending migrates and on the fee gap between existing cards and stablecoin services. The largest headline number is an optimistic case, not a guaranteed outcome.

Reserve requirements accompany the cost case

According to Blockmedia, the office also identifies risks from bank-deposit migration, weaker credit intermediation, reserve-asset sales during heavy redemptions, and tokens losing their peg.

Its recommendations include reserves of at least 100% of issuance in principle, with detailed rules for assets such as cash and short-term government bonds. It also proposes considering stronger oversight for systemically important stablecoins.

The study adds a quantified cost argument to Korea's stablecoin debate. It does not itself authorize issuance or establish a live merchant-payment rollout; its practical significance lies in the trade-off it presents between lower payment fees and financial-stability safeguards.