South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank is partnering with JPMorgan to develop a blockchain-based corporate payment service designed for businesses involved in international import and export activities, according to a report.
The service is being built on the Blockchain Deposit Account (BDA) network developed by Kinexys, JPMorgan’s blockchain-focused division. The initiative is aimed at giving Korean companies a shared blockchain-based infrastructure through which trade-related payments can be sent and received with near-instant settlement.
The planned service will be offered through KB Kookmin Bank’s domestic branches in South Korea and its Singapore branch, extending the bank’s blockchain payment capabilities to companies engaged in cross-border commerce.
The partnership is intended to enable importers and exporters to settle trade payments more quickly by using the BDA network as a shared blockchain ledger, potentially reducing delays associated with conventional cross-border payment processes.
Initial service to cover 10 remittance corridors
JPMorgan has indicated that the initial version of the service will support transactions denominated in U.S. dollars across 10 remittance corridors. The network will primarily connect South Korea with major markets in the United States and the Middle East, while also covering several important Asian and African trade destinations.
The listed markets include Singapore, Saudi Arabia, India, Thailand, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and South Africa. The corridor-based approach is expected to provide Korean businesses with blockchain-enabled settlement capabilities across regions that are significant to international trade.
The deployment also marks a notable development for JPMorgan’s BDA network in South Korea. KB Kookmin Bank is the first Korean financial institution to use the Kinexys-developed network for corporate payments, according to the report.
The expansion follows JPMorgan’s decision in June to add five major Asia-Pacific currencies to the BDA network. Those currencies included the Australian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Japanese yen, Chinese renminbi and Singapore dollar, broadening the network’s potential applications for multinational businesses operating across the region.
KB Kookmin expands blockchain and tokenization efforts
The latest partnership forms part of a broader push by KB Kookmin Bank into blockchain-based financial infrastructure.
In June 2026, the Korean lender issued the country’s first blockchain-powered digital bond. The transaction raised $100 million through a two-year, U.S. dollar-denominated private placement arranged with HSBC using its HSBC Orion platform.
That issuance demonstrated the bank’s growing involvement in tokenized capital markets, while the latest initiative shifts the focus toward corporate payments and cross-border settlement.
In July, KB Kookmin Bank also joined a national deposit-token payment project operated by South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet and Security Agency. The project is testing the use of tokenized commercial bank deposits for domestic payments, with KB Kookmin Bank expected to help merchants accept deposit-token transactions.
The developments indicate that KB Kookmin Bank is expanding beyond individual blockchain experiments toward broader applications covering digital bonds, tokenized deposits and corporate cross-border payments.
For importers and exporters, blockchain-based settlement could provide greater visibility into payment movements and reduce the time required to complete transactions. The use of a shared ledger could also improve coordination between participating financial institutions while supporting more streamlined payment processing.
The partnership reflects the wider adoption of blockchain infrastructure by traditional financial institutions as banks explore ways to modernize cross-border payments and tokenized financial products.
By combining KB Kookmin Bank’s Korean corporate banking network with JPMorgan’s BDA infrastructure, the initiative could establish a new blockchain-based channel for faster international trade payments and expand the practical use of tokenized bank deposits in corporate finance.
