Dunamu and Visa partner on stablecoin, AI business; Open Standard's OUSD under consideration

Dunamu, the parent company of South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, announced Friday that it has signed a strategic partnership with Visa for innovative financial services using stablecoins and AI.

The companies said they will combine Dunamu's digital asset technology with Visa's global payments network to explore new services in stablecoin-based payments, cross-border remittances, and AI-driven finance. 

The stated aim for the partnership is safer, more transparent, and interoperable use of digital assets and next-generation payments, in line with regulations. They also plan to link stablecoins to existing global payments infrastructure.

On the AI side, Dunamu and Visa will jointly explore agentic commerce as a focus area, in which an AI agent searches for goods or services and completes purchase and payments on a user's behalf.

"The spread of AI, stablecoins and tokenization is a key trend that will change how finance and commerce operate," Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok said. "Through cooperation with Visa, we will connect digital assets with existing finance and create new global financial experiences that users can feel."

Open USD

Dunamu also specifically mentioned in its press release that the partnership will explore potential usage of Open Standard's Open USD (OUSD) in future collaborations.

Launched in June, OUSD gained rapid traction with support from over 140 global institutions, including Visa, Mastercard, and Google. The dollar-backed stablecoin, which is not yet live, is framed as shared payments infrastructure, with no mint or redeem fees at scale and reserve revenue largely passed through to participating firms.

While several South Korean firms, including Dunamu and Samsung Electronics, were listed as consortium partners of the stablecoin project, they later clarified there was no formal agreement to participate.

Dunamu's spokesperson told The Block on Friday that OUSD is one of many stablecoin projects being reviewed for future use.

"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 said. "The actual asset will be decided after a comprehensive review of market demand, regulatory environment, stability, and suitability."

Meanwhile, the partnership announcement came just two days after Visa announced an agreement with another major South Korean financial company — Shinhan Financial Group — to collaborate on stablecoins, AI, and B2B payments.