Toss Bank signs Solana MOU to test 2 stablecoin payment rails

South Korea's Toss Bank will test Solana-based remittance rails and stablecoin settlement for cross-border payments under a new MOU with the Solana Foundation.

Toss Bank signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation to test blockchain-based remittance infrastructure, evaluating Solana rails for cross-border transfers and stablecoin use in overseas payments, the companies said June 22 in Seoul.

"This partnership marks a significant step toward bringing blockchain-based settlement to traditional banking infrastructure," a Toss Bank spokesperson said.

The MOU covers two parallel tracks: testing Solana's blockchain for remittance settlement and evaluating stablecoin integration for overseas payment corridors. Solana processes more than 2,000 transactions per second at sub-cent fees, making it one of the fastest Layer 1 blockchains for payment use cases. Circle's USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap at $56 billion, is natively issued on Solana and could serve as a settlement asset for the pilot. Tether's USDT, the largest stablecoin with a $112 billion market cap, also circulates on Solana, giving the bank multiple stablecoin options.

The pilot positions Toss Bank among the first traditional financial institutions in Asia to test Solana-based settlement rails. If successful, the infrastructure could challenge conventional SWIFT-based remittance corridors that typically take one to three business days and carry fees averaging 6.4% of the transfer amount, according to World Bank data. South Korea's overseas remittance market reached $23.6 billion in 2025, underscoring the addressable opportunity for blockchain-based alternatives.

The partnership comes as South Korea's digital banking sector pushes into blockchain-based financial infrastructure. Toss Bank, the digital banking arm of Viva Republica, has been expanding its cross-border payment capabilities. The MOU does not specify a timeline for the pilot or which stablecoins will be tested, with the bank saying it will review options during the initial testing phase.

Solana's ecosystem has seen growing institutional interest for payment infrastructure. The blockchain's low transaction costs — typically less than $0.001 per transaction — and finality times of under one second make it suited for high-volume settlement use cases. The Solana Foundation has been actively courting traditional financial institutions, positioning the network as a faster alternative to Ethereum for real-world asset settlement and payments.

The development also puts competitive pressure on other blockchain networks targeting cross-border payments, including Ripple's XRP Ledger and Stellar, which have historically focused on remittance use cases. Solana's throughput advantage — 2,000 TPS versus XRP Ledger's 1,500 TPS and Ethereum's 15 TPS on Layer 1 — gives it a technical edge for high-volume payment corridors, though adoption depends on regulatory clarity and banking partnerships.

South Korea's regulatory framework for digital assets adds another layer to the pilot. The country's Financial Services Commission requires virtual asset service providers to register and comply with anti-money laundering obligations. Stablecoin-specific regulation remains under development, with authorities evaluating reserve requirements and issuance standards similar to frameworks being developed in Japan and the European Union under MiCA.

For Toss Bank, the Solana pilot represents an opportunity to reduce remittance costs and settlement times for its customer base. Traditional bank wire transfers to Southeast Asian corridors — a major destination for South Korean remittances — can take up to three days and incur intermediary bank fees that reduce the amount received by beneficiaries. Blockchain-based settlement could compress that to seconds at a fraction of the cost.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.