{"id":10687,"date":"2026-03-18T19:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T19:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/crypto-payments-are-going-mainstream-can-tourists-turn-into-daily-users-in-south-korea\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T19:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T19:13:12","slug":"crypto-payments-are-going-mainstream-can-tourists-turn-into-daily-users-in-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/crypto-payments-are-going-mainstream-can-tourists-turn-into-daily-users-in-south-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"Crypto Payments Are Going Mainstream: Can Tourists Turn Into Daily Users In South Korea?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Centralized exchange Crypto.com has partnered with KG Inicis, South Korea\u2019s largest payment gateway and value added network (VAN) provider, to offer crypto payment options to foreign visitors in Korea.<\/p>\n

A New Korean Alliance<\/h2>\n

Crypto.com announced today<\/a> that this partnership with KG Inicis aims to \u201cscale the digital asset payments ecosystem by enabling digital asset payments for foreign travelers\u201d. This will be achieved by the creation of Crypto.com Pay, an app that will allow said travelers to spend digital assets on everyday goods and services at Korean merchants and K\u2011commerce platforms plugged into KG Inicis.<\/p>\n

\n

https:\/\/t.co\/vCNztATkNg<\/a> is partnering with KG Inicis, the largest Payment Gateway and Value Added Network provider in South Korea, to enable digital asset payments for foreign travellers via https:\/\/t.co\/vCNztATkNg<\/a> Pay.<\/p>\n

Read more here: https:\/\/t.co\/mcQ9Cifnce<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/zAsSMFRkO7<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Crypto.com (@cryptocom) March 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Everyone Benefits<\/p>\n

This is not a minor feat for the Korean CEX. KG Inicis is Korea\u2019s number one integrated payment platform, processing over 400 million transactions a year and commanding roughly 40% of the local payment gateway market, giving Crypto.com immediate access to large\u2011scale real\u2011world payment rails.<\/p>\n

The move reduces friction from foreign exchange (FX) fees and card charges for tourists by letting them pay directly in crypto, while merchants can still settle in either fiat or digital assets. Therefore, this deal is a win-win scenario for all the parts involved.<\/p>\n

The announcement also states that both companies “will also explore further business collaboration”, clarifying that these will be “subject to compliance with local regulations, including promotional activities, co-marketing opportunities, and the creation of new products and services”.<\/p>\n

Strategically, the Korean CEX is layering this on top of its broader South Korea push, which already includes regulatory registrations<\/a> and a plan to roll out retail trading via its app.<\/a><\/p>\n

A Country On The Crypto Move<\/p>\n

As South Korea tightens oversight with an expanded Travel Rule<\/a> and bank\u2011like expectations for exchanges, getting a regulated, domestic payment gateway on board with a deal like this is not a workaround, but rather a strong regulatory signal.<\/p>\n

South Korea is positioning itself as a structured but pro\u2011innovation hub, moving toward spot Bitcoin ETFs<\/a> and formal digital asset framework<\/a>s while stepping up enforcement against non\u2011compliant platforms<\/a>. Embedding crypto into mainstream payment gateways like KG Inicis suggests regulators are more comfortable with token usage when it sits on top of existing, supervised financial infrastructure.<\/p>\n

For traders, this kind of real\u2011world integration tends to support the medium\u2011term thesis for large\u2011cap assets and payment\u2011focused tokens tied to the Crypto.com ecosystem, even if the immediate price impact is muted and dependent on tourist adoption metrics and Korea\u2019s next regulatory steps.<\/p>\n

\"Bitcoin,<\/p>\n

Cover image from Perplexity, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Centralized exchange Crypto.com has partnered with KG Inicis, South Korea\u2019s largest payment gateway and value added network (VAN) provider, to offer crypto payment options to foreign visitors in Korea. A New Korean Alliance Crypto.com announced today that this partnership with KG Inicis aims to \u201cscale the digital asset payments ecosystem by enabling digital asset payments…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[36,33,4992],"class_list":["post-10687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency-market-news","tag-crypto","tag-cryptocurrency-market-news","tag-south-korea-crypto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinsvalue.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}