South Korean payment company KSNeT has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation to test Solana Pay within its merchant network and evaluate the application of the x402 protocol in AI payment scenarios. KSNeT stated that the pilot program will begin with a proof-of-concept, covering both online and offline merchant networks.
Covering a network of 330,000 merchants
KSNeT, headquartered in Seocho-gu, Seoul, has 26 years of experience operating a merchant network. The company currently provides bank card acquiring, payment gateway, and e-banking services, handling over $4 billion in monthly transactions and covering more than 330,000 merchants.
Testing Solana Pay settlement
The first pilot program will integrate Solana Pay's standards into the local Korean payment environment and connect it with KSNeT's existing merchant network. The company also plans to integrate digital asset settlements with the Korean Won settlement network to reduce exchange rate fluctuations and liquidity risks for merchants when receiving payments.
Synchronous test x402 protocol
The second pilot will focus on the x402 protocol. KSNeT will test whether the protocol is compatible with its internally validated AI payment model. x402 aims to enable AI agents to complete value transfers without login or card authentication, making it suitable for small-amount, high-frequency payment scenarios.
South Korean payment institutions are accelerating their alignment with Solana.
Solana Foundation has recently secured a series of partnerships in South Korea's financial and payment sectors. Previously, Shinhan Card, Toss Bank, and KG Group had all announced related pilot programs. KSNeT has also been working with K Bank and Lambda256 on digital asset settlement pilot programs, and Nodit has disclosed a collaboration with KSNeT to test USDC payments.
Additional information:These collaborations are currently in the pre-commercialization stage, and the scope of implementation will be affected by South Korea's Basic Law on Digital Assets.
