At a glance

  • LG CNS has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chainlink to add the oracle network’s data and cross-chain technology to KITL, its digital asset platform for financial institutions, Maeil Business Newspaper reported on Friday.
  • LG CNS is the lead contractor for the Bank of Korea’s Project Hangang, whose first phase involved about 80,000 customers across seven Korean banks, according to the companies’ joint release.

Chainlink and LG CNS announced a strategic partnership on 22 Oct covering three areas: oracle infrastructure for LG CNS’s platform, technical standards for Korea’s digital asset market, and solutions for Korean institutions, the release said.

An oracle carries outside data, such as exchange rates, interest rates or bond prices, onto a blockchain, where smart contracts cannot fetch it themselves.

What the platform does

LG CNS released KITL on 6 Oct, according to MK. It gives banks the building blocks for digital asset services: electronic wallets, transaction processing, fee payment and transaction records. LG CNS plans to add Chainlink’s technology so that institutions can connect to overseas blockchain networks from the same platform, MK reported.

The release frames the deal around stablecoins and tokenized securities. It describes Korea’s digital asset market as worth $68 billion (about €61 billion at the ECB’s 22 Oct rate), and says Korean stablecoins have “more than 11 million eligible users”. Those figures come from the companies and have not been independently verified by CryptoWatchDesk.

“Korea’s financial infrastructure is entering the tokenization era,” said Hongkeun Kim, executive vice president and head of LG CNS’s digital business division. Johann Eid, chief business officer of Chainlink Labs, said the partnership “establishes the foundation for compliant digital asset infrastructure in Korea.”

The catch

There is no legal basis yet for issuing won stablecoins in Korea, The Block noted; that waits on the Digital Asset Basic Act. On 8 Oct CryptoWatchDesk reported the FSC’s final consultations on the Digital Asset Basic Act. Separately, Korea’s new reporting rule for cross-border crypto transfers is out for public comment until 26 Oct.

Neither company gave a timetable, a fee or a first bank customer for the Chainlink integration.

Price check: LINK traded at $12.06 on CoinGecko at about 14:00 UTC, up 0.4% in 24 hours.

What’s next

Watch for the Digital Asset Basic Act’s progress in the National Assembly, which would decide who can issue won stablecoins, and for the first Korean bank to run a live service on KITL. For the basics, see what a dollar stablecoin is.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.