Samsung SDS, the IT services and logistics subsidiary of Samsung Group, is discussing stablecoin infrastructure and an AI-driven payment model with Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit. Cointelegraph reported on July 30 that the two sides had made contact. Samsung SDS’s core business is enterprise ERP, cross-border logistics, and B2B payment clearing systems — not consumer wallets. Dunamu, meanwhile, is one of Korea’s largest licensed virtual asset service providers by trading volume. In other words, this is an enterprise-level clearing layer conversation about how inter-company settlement could run on stablecoins — not about when a card gets issued. As of publication, neither side has announced a formal agreement, product name, or launch timeline.
Editorial take: who’s affected, and when
Bottom line first: if you already hold any USDT virtual card, there’s nothing you need to do in the next 7, 30, or 90 days.
The reason is simple. The stablecoin virtual card chain runs like this: stablecoin top-up → issuer custody/conversion → card network (Visa/Mastercard) authorization → merchant acquiring. What Samsung SDS and Dunamu are discussing sits outside this chain — it’s about enterprise procurement, supply-chain settlement, and cross-border B2B remittance. However that layer evolves, it won’t change the authorization path when you pay for ChatGPT Plus with MPCard (our editorially selected variant, MPCard Asia Elite).
Three groups of users should keep half an eye on this:
- Users whose spending is mostly domestic Korean consumption. If a won-denominated stablecoin infrastructure eventually materializes, the first beneficiaries would be domestic Korean online merchants plus local acquiring. Right now, usability issues in Korea sit mostly on the merchant side and account-region consistency, not on the card itself — see our card picks for Korea.
- Users holding exchange-issued cards. Products like Bybit Card, issued directly by an exchange, tend to be more tightly bound to that exchange’s own licenses and banking rails over the long run. If Dunamu genuinely becomes a node in Korea’s stablecoin clearing network, exchange-issued products are more likely to see regional strategy shifts than independent issuers are.
- Users handling corporate payables. If you use a USDT card to pay for company SaaS subscriptions or ad spend, this news carries the highest signal for you: a player the size of Samsung SDS starting to treat stablecoins as an “accounts payable tool” suggests enterprise-grade USDT payment rails will be more standardized by around 2027 — but it also means KYB (business identity verification) requirements will tighten, not loosen. If you’re not familiar with how USDT cards work, start with What Is a USDT Card.
Historical comparison: how is this different from 2023 and 2024
What’s the same: it’s again a “big enterprise + licensed exchange” combination. Around 2023, Japan took a similar path — large financial institutions and bank-led consortiums drove stablecoin issuance infrastructure, with exchanges serving as the liquidity on-ramp. The result: compliance progressed quickly, but consumer-facing card products barely benefited directly — yen stablecoins still haven’t turned into something you can use to pay for Netflix. For a fuller review, see our Japan compliance guide.
Two things are different this time. First, the 2023-era Ethereum/Klaytn partnership narratives were led by public-chain and technology vendors; this time the lead actor is a systems integrator that runs enterprise ERP and logistics clearing, and the use case — accounts receivable/payable — is a tighter, more concrete commercial loop. Second, the regulatory backdrop has changed. Korea’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act (VAUPA) took effect on July 19, 2024, writing exchange user-asset segregation and abnormal-transaction monitoring into hard legal obligations. On top of that foundation, legislative discussion of a won-denominated stablecoin since 2025 finally has somewhere to land. The 2023-era equivalents, by contrast, were negotiated without a governing statute — most of those plans later stalled at the PoC stage.
So my read is: the odds of this one actually “closing” are higher than that earlier batch of 2023 news, but the distance from “deal closes” to “consumers can swipe a card” remains substantial.
Where the compliance lines sit
Three things need to be stated clearly:
- Explicitly permitted: buying and selling USDT in Korea through a licensed VASP, and withdrawing USDT to a wallet you control.
- Gray area: the eligibility of issuers for a won-denominated stablecoin, and reserve custody/redemption guarantees — legislation is not yet finalized. The FSC and the Bank of Korea (BOK) have a publicly known disagreement over whether issuance should be bank-led or open to non-bank entities. Track policy documents via the FSC’s English site.
- The operational risk to watch: it’s not about “is this legal,” it’s about “is this consistent.” Paying for a subscription using a Korea-region account plus a non-APAC BIN card typically gets declined because of regional risk-control mismatches — not regulatory prohibition. This is exactly why we treat aligning APAC account + APAC IP + APAC card BIN as a top screening criterion — see the BIN and region section in the MPCard review.
We don’t currently have a standalone Korea compliance page on the site; the closest East Asia reference points are Japan compliance and Hong Kong compliance.
Four things worth watching next
- Whether Samsung SDS and Dunamu announce a formal MOU or joint venture. Right now it’s just “in discussion” — moving from discussion to MOU typically takes 1–2 quarters.
- Progress of Korea’s stablecoin bill through the National Assembly, particularly whether issuance is restricted to banks. This determines whether Dunamu could act as an issuer or only as a channel.
- Whether “Samsung Pay + stablecoin” language shows up. If it does, that signals the front has shifted from B2B to consumer-facing — that’s when card choices for the Korea scenario would need re-evaluating.
- Whether Upbit’s own USDT deposit/withdrawal policy changes accordingly. This is the change ordinary users would notice first — more concrete than any MOU.
Editorial recommendations
- If you already hold a USDT virtual card — MPCard, Bybit Card, or otherwise: no action needed. This news doesn’t change top-up flow, exchange rates, or authorization paths.
- If you’re a Korean user about to apply for your first card: don’t delay just to “wait for a won stablecoin card.” Historically, the gap between enterprise clearing infrastructure and consumer-facing card issuance has never been shorter than two years. Pick a card based on your actual current needs — see card picks for Korea and Top 5 USDT Cards for 2026.
- If you use a USDT card for subscriptions: focus on regional consistency, not this news. Nine times out of ten, a decline paying for ChatGPT Plus (officially $20/month) or Claude Code comes from a mismatch between account region and card BIN.
- If you’re a business user: it’s worth organizing your KYB documentation now. As enterprise-grade stablecoin rails standardize, identity verification thresholds will only rise, never fall.
All fees and limits should be verified against the issuer’s official page; we do not conduct independent on-chain testing, and every fact in this article can be traced back to the official and original reporting sources listed above.