South Korea's largest bank, KB Kookmin, will launch a blockchain-based payment service for import and export companies in August, using JPMorgan's Kinexys network to process US dollar transactions. The move marks the first time a Korean bank has adopted JPMorgan's institutional blockchain for trade finance, and it comes as Seoul pushes for wider digital asset adoption in the real economy.
Service to cover 10 countries
The initial service will support dollar remittances to 10 countries: South Korea, the US, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, India, Thailand, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and South Africa. KB Kookmin will offer the service through its domestic branches and its Singapore office. The bank is targeting import and export companies that need faster, cheaper cross-border payments — a segment where traditional correspondent banking can take days and carry high fees.
Kinexys: JPMorgan's institutional blockchain
Kinexys, formerly known as Onyx, is JPMorgan's blockchain unit handling institutional payments, tokenization, and digital asset settlement. Since its launch, Kinexys has processed over $4 trillion in transactions, with average daily volumes exceeding $7 billion. The network is already used by a number of global banks for intraday repo and cross-border payments. For KB Kookmin, plugging into Kinexys means instant settlement and a single shared ledger, cutting out the usual chain of correspondent banks.
KB Kookmin's digital push
The payment service isn't KB Kookmin's only blockchain project this year. The bank was recently selected for a government-backed deposit token payment project run by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency. That initiative aims to test tokenized deposits for everyday payments. Together, the two projects signal that KB Kookmin is betting big on blockchain for both corporate and retail use cases.
The timing isn't accidental. South Korea's financial regulators have been encouraging banks to experiment with distributed ledger technology, especially for trade finance and remittances — areas where the country's export-heavy economy stands to benefit most.
The service is set to go live in August. KB Kookmin hasn't disclosed transaction fees or a timeline for adding more currencies or countries. For now, the focus is on getting the dollar corridor right.
