SBI and KB national cards are planned to be tested for encrypted payments by tourists going to South Korea and Japan

South Korea's KB National Card ( KB Kookmin Card ) has signed a quadrilateral agreement with Japan's SBI Holdings and two security companies to test AI proxy authentication and explore stablecoin payments between the two countries.

• Four companies sign an agreement to test AI identity verification and cross-border digital payment services.
• SBI Holdings and KB national cards will explore stablecoin payments for tourists visiting South Korea and Japan.
• KYA Trust Gateway will verify the identity of AI as an agent, user authorization delegations, and approved financial transactions.
• KB The National Card Plan research will integrate AI agents into the existing KB Pay platform.
• Everspin indicates that its security system has detected approximately 25 billion threats across 150 financial institutions.

On October 13, KB stated that this Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU ) involves SBI Holdings, South Korean cybersecurity company Everspin, as well as the joint venture between the two parties, SBI Everspin. This collaboration will study how AI agents can securely access financial services and complete authorized transactions on behalf of users. The companies also plan to explore digital asset payments, enabling Japanese tourists to consume using stablecoins at participating South Korean merchants.

SBI Stablecoin Payments Cooperation Aims at Japanese Tourists

According to the agreement, KB National Card and SBI Holdings will research payment services that connect Japanese customers with Korean merchants. One of the proposed services is to allow Japanese travelers to use digital assets, including stablecoins, when purchasing goods or services during their visits to Korea.

All parties intend to study how payments can be circulated through the existing financial systems, including the processes for settlement, cancellation, and refunds. The discussion will also cover anti-fraud measures, as well as the operational procedures required before the service is officially launched to customers. No commercial launch date has been announced yet, nor has it been stated which stablecoin will be supported.

KB National Card will investigate whether its KB Pay platform is capable of supporting AI agents to make payments on behalf of customers. The proposed system will verify whether users agree to this, and check whether automated agents have the authority to complete transactions within preset expenditure limits.

A company representative stated that this collaboration will test the foundation required for AI agents to operate securely in multiple services. The representative mentioned that all parties will jointly provide "convenient and secure digital payment experiences" for customers in South Korea and Japan.

SBI Holdings indicates that it will combine its own financial services experience with the AI of the participating company and security technologies. This Japanese financial group expects that these tests will provide information for potential commercial services, including stablecoin payments.

AI Identity verification will use KYA Trust Gateway.

The core of this collaboration is KYA Trust Gateway, which is a security platform designed to verify the identity and permissions of AI agents. This technology was proposed by SBI Everspin and is currently being developed in conjunction with Everspin.

Unlike traditional user authentication, the proposed process will check whether a certain AI proxy has obtained specific individual authorization to perform designated tasks. It will verify the proxy's identity, the services it has access to, and the restrictions on its behavior. Partners plan to conduct these verifications before allowing automated systems to carry out financial activities.

During the initial testing phase, each company will study how the AI proxies from Japan complete identity authentication when accessing Korean services. Subsequently, the project will also examine delegation of permissions, including what types of transactions the proxies are allowed to perform and whether their permissions meet the service requirements.

The integration of the KB National Card Program with the KB Pay will be part of the subsequent evaluation. Companies are expected to study user approval processes, expenditure limits, and access control before deciding whether to commercially introduce automatic payments.

According to Everspin, this development work has drawn on their experience in protecting financial institutions from cyberattacks. The company stated that they have detected attempts related to a type of AI attack method known as ARTEX in a real financial services environment.

According to Everspin, approximately 25 billion instances of cyber security threats have been detected across more than 150 financial institutions in South Korea and overseas. The article points out that these figures are operational statistics reported by the company itself and do not represent confirmed attacks involving the new KYA Trust Gateway platform.

A Everspin representative stated that the company intends to apply its security expertise to the AI proxy and its transaction authority verification processes. The company expects that this collaboration will cover financial activities involving automated proxies operating across borders.

SBI Expands Stablecoin Payment Tests between Japan and South Korea

This agreement on October 13 follows another cross-border stablecoin project involving the SBI group. On October 1, its subsidiary SBI DigiTrust announced a joint verification project with Korean entities NICE Information and Telecommunication, as well as blockchain infrastructure company DSRV.

These companies are testing a system that allows Japanese tourists in South Korea to make payments using QR codes with merchants. The project covers payment instructions, the transfer of funds between customers and merchants, the settlement process, as well as the connections between participating financial systems.

NICE operates the payment infrastructure for approximately 1.2 million merchants in South Korea. In this project, NICE provides merchant payment management expertise, DSRV offers blockchain infrastructure expertise, while SBI DigiTrust is responsible for financial and regulatory matters related to the Japanese market.

These three companies are expected to complete their testing by the end of December 2026. They have not yet committed to a commercial launch and will use the test results to assess whether the proposed services can operate within the applicable financial regulatory framework.

This project is part of SBI's efforts to test QR code payment for stablecoins between Japan and South Korea. Research has been conducted on the payment processes of real merchants, as well as the technical requirements for fund transfers between the two countries.

In 2026, the SBI group also advanced other digital payment initiatives. In February, SBI Ripple Asia confirmed a joint research project with DSRV to explore blockchain-based remittance and settlement services that connect the Japanese and Korean markets. This project focuses on how blockchain transactions can work in conjunction with existing payment infrastructure and regulatory requirements.

KB National Card continues to advance stablecoin products

For the KB national card, there was previously a plan involving Avalanche and OpenAsset. In March 2026, the company announced a hybrid credit card system solution, aiming to connect stablecoin wallets with traditional bank card payments.

According to the proposed arrangement, customers can first use digital assets to fund transactions, and then utilize traditional credit limits. This design retains the existing bank card payment process while also providing a potential way to consume with stablecoins through supported payment networks.

Prior to this plan, the company had submitted a patent application in January for the proposed payment structure. Through its hybrid stablecoin credit card project, KB National Card has been exploring ways to combine blockchain-based assets with its existing bank card services.

Meanwhile, SBI Holdings is also continuously building stablecoin infrastructure in Japan. In June 2026, the group launched the yen-denominated stablecoin JPYSC, which was jointly developed with Startale Group and issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank. Initially, it was only available for use by accounts that held SBI VC Trade, with plans to enable its use on the public chain at a later date.

This Japanese financial group has also advanced settlement experiments related to other financial institutions. On October 6th, SBI Securities and several partners announced that they had completed the first two phases of Project Trinity. This experiment focused on the settlement of stablecoins in tokenized securities trading.

Regarding the newly announced cooperation on the KB national card, the four companies have not yet disclosed the budget, the date of completion of testing, or the timeline for launch. The participants stated that they will assess business opportunities after reviewing the technical results, and potential future work may cover both financial and non-financial services.