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South Korea has spent the past year quietly becoming one of Solana's most important markets. Banks are exploring stablecoins. Card issuers are testing blockchain payments. Now one of the country's largest payment processors wants to bring Solana Pay to hundreds of thousands of merchants.
KSNET has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Solana Foundation to integrate Solana Pay across its network of more than 330,000 merchants, marking one of the largest merchant payment initiatives on the blockchain in Asia.
The company processes around 130 million transactions every month, representing roughly $4 billion in monthly payment volume.
Bringing Solana Pay to Everyday Commerce
The agreement covers both online and offline payments, with the two organizations planning to integrate Solana Pay into KSNET's existing merchant infrastructure.
The partnership also extends beyond traditional payments.
KSNET and the Solana Foundation will jointly develop a proof of concept using x402, an emerging payment standard designed for AI agents. The goal is to explore how autonomous software could initiate and complete payments securely across merchant networks, pointing toward a future where AI becomes an active participant in commerce rather than simply an assistant.
While the announcement is currently an MOU rather than a commercial rollout, it signals that one of South Korea's largest payment companies sees blockchain-based payments as part of its long-term strategy.
Solana Continues Building in Korea
The KSNET partnership is the latest in a series of high-profile agreements between the Solana Foundation and major Korean financial institutions.
Earlier this year, Shinhan Card, one of South Korea's largest card issuers, signed an agreement with the Solana Foundation to explore stablecoin payments and Web3 payment infrastructure. Shortly afterwards, KG Financial announced plans to test stablecoin payments across its merchant network, while Toss Bank began exploring Solana-powered cross-border payments and settlement.
KSNET itself has already shown an interest in digital assets. In 2025, the company partnered with Crypto.com to support crypto payments for international visitors, making the Solana agreement a broader expansion into blockchain-based domestic payments.
The company has also been working closely with the Solana Foundation on AI initiatives, recently participating as an institutional partner in Google's and Solana's AI Agentic Hackathon in South Korea.
Solana's Merchant Moment?
While Solana Pay is the headline, x402 may prove to be the more significant part of the partnership.
The emerging standard is designed for AI agents to initiate payments directly, opening the possibility that software—not just people—could become active participants in commerce. Booking travel, paying for digital services or completing online purchases could eventually happen through autonomous agents operating under predefined rules.
For KSNET, that means this partnership isn't just about adding another payment option. It's an opportunity to explore how merchant infrastructure may evolve as AI becomes part of everyday commerce.
For Solana, it reflects a broader ambition. The network isn't simply trying to become another way to pay—it's positioning itself to support the next generation of payment infrastructure, where transactions may increasingly be initiated by software rather than humans.