BTQ Technologies secures MoonPay Korea's won stablecoin stack

Post-quantum cryptography enters Korean stablecoin infrastructure before quantum threats materialise, with global reach across 35 million users.

By Disrupts Editorial Team Wed, 14 October 2026 AI level 2 of 5

AI level 2 of 5: drafted by our AI editorial assistant from the company's announcement; fact-checked, edited and signed off by Mark Walker, Editorial Director. What the levels mean

Data center aisle with rows of dark server racks featuring green and blue indicator lights, under bright overhead fluorescent lighting.

BTQ Technologies, a Nasdaq-listed quantum security company, has been named the official security partner for MoonPay Korea's won-backed stablecoin infrastructure. The partnership places post-quantum cryptography (PQC) at the foundation of a payments stack that spans issuance, settlement, wallet access, and last-mile merchant delivery, and connects directly to MoonPay's global network of more than 35 million customers across approximately 180 countries.

The move is a rare example of quantum-era security being designed into financial infrastructure from the outset, rather than bolted on after the fact. Most stablecoin systems currently rely on elliptic-curve and RSA public-key cryptography, which sufficiently capable quantum computers are expected eventually to break. By embedding PQC now, MoonPay Korea and BTQ are making a long-horizon architectural bet that the Korean won stablecoin market will still be running on the same foundational infrastructure well into the period when quantum threats become operationally credible.

Quantum-safe by design

Under the partnership, BTQ will develop a quantum-transition roadmap covering the full MoonPay Korea stack, from cryptographic inventory and risk prioritisation through to a phased migration plan. In parallel, the company will run a proof of concept of its Quantum Secure Stablecoin Network (QSSN) with Korean banking institutions, testing quantum-safe transaction signing and key management across wallet and settlement layers.

Woori Bank, Korea's oldest commercial bank, is already the inaugural member of MoonPay Korea's KRW Stablecoin Consortium. BTQ's earlier work in the market adds further weight: the QSSN was previously selected as the core PQC security technology for a proof of concept with Finger Inc. and iM Bank on the Kaia blockchain mainnet, described as South Korea's first bank-led won stablecoin infrastructure to incorporate post-quantum cryptography. BTQ also holds a commercial agreement with LINE NEXT and the Kaia DLT Foundation to deploy QSSN across that ecosystem.

"Stablecoin infrastructure in Korea is being built now, and security designed in from the start will last far longer than security retrofitted later," said Olivier Roussy Newton, chief executive of BTQ Technologies. "MoonPay Korea is building one of the most complete stacks in the market, from issuance to last-mile delivery."

The convergence read-across

The strategic significance here reaches beyond Korea's domestic digital-asset market. Korea is actively advancing from bank-led stablecoin pilots toward merchant adoption and cross-border settlement, as its regulatory framework for won-backed instruments continues to take shape. The infrastructure BTQ helps secure is designed to interoperate with MoonPay's global payment rails, meaning quantum-safe standards set in Seoul have the potential to propagate across 180 jurisdictions and more than 1,500 enterprise clients.

This dynamic illustrates a broader convergence: national digital-currency infrastructure, post-quantum cryptographic standards, and global fintech distribution networks are beginning to intersect at the design stage rather than being reconciled after deployment. Regulators in the EU, UK, and US are all advancing PQC migration timelines for financial-sector systems, partly in response to NIST's 2024 finalisation of its first post-quantum cryptographic standards. Korea's decision to embed PQC into stablecoin infrastructure from day one positions it alongside a small group of jurisdictions treating quantum readiness as a financial-infrastructure requirement, not a future upgrade cycle.

For cross-sector investors, the capital implication is also worth tracking. Quantum security remains a relatively thin vertical, BTQ's market capitalisation is a fraction of incumbent cybersecurity players, but sovereign-grade financial infrastructure mandates represent a qualitatively different kind of customer than enterprise software deals. If Korea's regulatory framework for won stablecoins crystallises with PQC as a compliance expectation, that precedent could accelerate procurement cycles across other APAC central bank digital currency and stablecoin programmes, creating a template that other jurisdictions may follow.