Shinhan Bank tested a payment and settlement structure in which foreign patients pay medical bills with stablecoins and South Korean medical institutions receive funds in won.

Shinhan Bank said on Tuesday it completed a pilot of stablecoin-based medical bill payment and settlement for foreign patients in cooperation with domestic payment service provider KSNET.

The pilot was carried out as limited trial transactions at a medical institution in Seoul using an overseas stablecoin simple payment service.

In the structure, a foreign patient pays medical fees in stablecoins. An overseas regulated operator converts them into fiat currency and remits the funds to South Korea. KSNET then pays the settlement amount to the domestic medical institution in won.

Shinhan Bank checked in the process whether it could link the financial infrastructure needed to receive incoming payment funds in South Korea and to settle in won for medical institutions.

It designed the structure so that domestic participating organisations and medical institutions do not directly hold or trade digital assets such as stablecoins. For medical institutions, it was set up to allow them to meet demand for stablecoin-based payments without establishing a separate system to store and manage digital assets.

It also enabled foreign patients to pay medical bills through the overseas simple payment service they use.

Transaction details from payment through settlement were configured to be recorded electronically. Shinhan Bank sees this as enabling verification and management of transaction records and increasing transparency in the payment process.

A Shinhan Bank official said, "For a new payment method to be used in actual transactions, the way businesses that receive payments work must be considered." The official added, "Based on this pilot experience, we will further specify services that corporate customers can use."