USD
Dunamu, Visa Partner on Stablecoin and AI Payment Services
Upbit’s parent will explore OUSD, cross-border payments and agentic commerce with Visa
TL;DR
- Dunamu and Visa are partnering on stablecoin payments, cross-border remittances, settlement and AI-driven financial services.
- Open Standard’s OUSD is under consideration, but Dunamu said it has not selected or prioritized any particular stablecoin.
- The agreement expands Visa’s South Korean digital-asset push alongside Shinhan Financial Group and growing investment by Samsung and Mirae Asset.
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Dunamu, the parent company of South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, announced on August 28, 2026, that it had signed a strategic partnership with Visa to develop financial services using stablecoins and artificial intelligence, combining Dunamu’s digital-asset technology with Visa’s global payments network.
The companies plan to explore stablecoin-based payments, cross-border remittances, payment and settlement services and AI-driven finance. Their stated goal is to support safer, more transparent and interoperable use of digital assets and next-generation payments while operating in line with regulations. Dunamu and Visa also plan to examine how stablecoins can connect with existing global payment infrastructure rather than operate solely within separate digital-asset systems.
Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok said the agreement reflects the convergence of several emerging financial technologies. “The spread of AI, stablecoins and tokenization is a key trend that will change how finance and commerce operate,” Oh said. “Through cooperation with Visa, we will connect digital assets with existing finance and create new global financial experiences that users can feel.”
Agentic commerce becomes a focus of the partnership
Artificial intelligence is another central part of the collaboration. Dunamu and Visa plan to explore AI-powered payment services and infrastructure for agentic commerce, a model in which AI agents search for products or services and complete purchases and payments on a user’s behalf.
Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, has expressed a similar view of crypto infrastructure for autonomous systems, arguing that digital assets and stablecoins can provide payment rails for machine transactions. “It is going to be a long while before any bank opens a bank account for an AI agent,” Siu said. “Crypto basically solves all of that.”
The partnership therefore covers more than consumer checkout applications. Dunamu and Visa are examining how software agents could interact with payment and settlement systems while stablecoins provide a programmable digital payment layer connected to conventional financial infrastructure.
OUSD is being reviewed, not selected
Dunamu specifically identified Open Standard’s Open USD, or OUSD, as one stablecoin that could be considered in future collaboration with Visa. The companies said they plan to explore business models based on the open-standard stablecoin as well as new payment and settlement experiences.
OUSD emerged in June 2026 and had gained support from more than 140 global institutions, including Visa, Mastercard and Google. The U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin was not yet live at the time of the partnership announcement. It is being positioned as shared payment infrastructure with no minting or redemption fees at scale and with reserve revenue largely passed through to participating firms.
Dunamu stressed, however, that OUSD is only one of several stablecoin projects under review. A Dunamu spokesperson said: “We are not prioritizing nor excluding specific stablecoins, but are aiming for an open structure that can connect various stablecoins, finance, and payment infrastructure.”
The spokesperson added: “The actual asset will be decided after a comprehensive review of market demand, regulatory environment, stability, and suitability.”
Dunamu and Samsung Electronics had previously appeared on a list of consortium partners associated with the OUSD project, but both companies later clarified that there was no formal agreement for them to participate. The new Visa partnership therefore establishes cooperation between Dunamu and Visa while leaving the eventual stablecoin choice open.
Visa expands its South Korean stablecoin strategy
Visa’s agreement with Dunamu follows a separate collaboration with Shinhan Financial Group announced on August 26, covering stablecoins, artificial intelligence and business-to-business payment and settlement infrastructure. The two agreements place Visa alongside both a major conventional financial group and the operator of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange as the company expands its digital-asset activity in the country.
Several other developments have accompanied that expansion.
For Dunamu, the Visa agreement extends its potential role beyond operating Upbit into stablecoin payments, cross-border transfers, settlement and AI-driven commerce linked to a global payments network. The announced work remains an exploration framework covering those areas rather than a completed rollout of the proposed services.
For Visa, the partnership adds Dunamu’s digital-asset capabilities to a broader effort to connect stablecoins with existing payment infrastructure while keeping the system open to multiple potential assets. Dunamu’s stated approach is to evaluate stablecoins according to demand, regulation, stability and suitability rather than commit to a single token in advance.
This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.
