On September 18, 2025, the cryptocurrency world witnessed a groundbreaking moment as South Korea’s Busan Digital Asset Custody Service (BDACS), in partnership with Woori Bank, launched KRW1 Stablecoin Launch on Avalanche.
This marks the nation’s first stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Korean won (KRW), fully collateralized with reserves held in escrow at Woori Bank. Deployed on the high-performance Avalanche blockchain, KRW1 is poised to revolutionize payments, public disbursements, and cross-border transactions.
The KRW1 Stablecoin Launch on Avalanche follows a successful proof-of-concept phase, validating its technical and regulatory feasibility. Unlike volatile cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, KRW1 is designed to maintain a stable value by being backed by actual Korean won deposits, ensuring trust and reliability.
The launch of KRW1, South Korea’s first won-backed stablecoin on the Avalanche blockchain, marks a pioneering step in blending traditional banking with decentralized finance, supported by a successful proof-of-concept with Woori Bank, which holds the collateral in escrow, as detailed in a September 2025 Cryptobriefing report.
This move aligns with South Korea’s evolving regulatory landscape, including the 2024 Virtual Asset User Protection Act and the upcoming Digital Asset Basic Act, which aim to foster a transparent crypto market, reversing a 2018 ban on virtual asset ventures that stifled startups, per a September 2025 PANews analysis.
Avalanche’s high-throughput blockchain, engineered with a unique three-part Layer 1 architecture, offers near-instant transaction finality, making it a strategic choice for KRW1 over competitors, as evidenced by its adoption by institutional players like Woori Bank, according to the official Avalanche network documentation updated September 2025.
