Dunamu, Visa partner on stablecoin, AI payments as OUSD weighs 140-member alliance

Dunamu, operator of South Korea's largest crypto exchange Upbit, signed a strategic partnership with Visa on Aug. 28 to develop stablecoin payments, cross-border remittances and AI-driven finance, with Open Standard's OUSD among stablecoins under review.

"The spread of AI, stablecoins and tokenization is a key trend that will change how finance and commerce operate," Oh Kyung-seok, chief executive officer of Dunamu, said in the announcement.

The roadmap was signed Aug. 26 at Visa's Global Market Support Center in Mission Rock, San Francisco, attended by Oh and Visa Global President Oliver Jenkyn. Dunamu earlier signed a strategic agreement with Visa Worldwide Pte. Limited, the payments firm's Asia-Pacific unit. The companies plan to roll out services in stages based on regulatory requirements in each market and have not finalized a specific service model.

The deal follows Visa's Aug. 26 partnership with Shinhan Financial Group, one of South Korea's largest financial groups, to develop stablecoin, AI and B2B payment solutions. It also comes a day after Visa and Nium began piloting US dollar- and euro-denominated stablecoin settlements under Singapore's MAS BLOOM initiative, testing seven-day settlement across weekends and public holidays.

OUSD Among Several Stablecoins Under Review

Dunamu said OUSD is one of several stablecoin projects under evaluation, not a default choice for the Visa partnership. The company said it does not prioritize or exclude any stablecoin, instead building an open architecture that can connect multiple stablecoins with traditional finance and payments. The final selection will depend on market demand, the regulatory environment, safety and project fit.

The stance clarifies Dunamu's position after Open Standard, the alliance behind OUSD, listed the company among more than 140 organizations in its network, alongside Visa, Mastercard, Google, Stripe, Coinbase and BlackRock. In July, Dunamu and Samsung Electronics both denied signing any formal agreement to join the project.

Agentic Commerce and AI Payments

Beyond stablecoins, the two companies will study business models combining AI with stablecoin-based payment and settlement infrastructure, particularly agentic commerce, in which AI agents search for products, compare options, complete purchases and pay on a user's behalf. They will also assess the technology and infrastructure needed for AI-driven payments.

The partnership reflects Visa's accelerating push to embed stablecoins into mainstream payments infrastructure. Back-to-back deals with Dunamu and Shinhan, plus the BLOOM pilot with Nium, show the payments giant treating stablecoin settlement as a near-term operational capability rather than an experiment. For Dunamu, the tie-up gives Upbit a route into traditional finance and could broaden stablecoin use in South Korea, where the exchange dominates trading volumes.

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