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Shopping With Crypto Now Possible in South Korea

Robin J. Wolf

May 7, 2019

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Cryptocurrency has been useful as an investment vehicle and a storage of value.

But as a means to actually, you know, buy things, it’s been of somewhat more limited utility (unless you’re in Singapore, apparently).

That might be changing, however.

The Herald Gyeongje (Korean only) takes a look at blockchain’s potential in Korea’s burgeoning KRW 80 trillion a year market for simple payment services.

Korea’s market for simple payment services has grown by almost 200 percent over the last three years. Nearly 80 percent of Korean consumers have used a mobile payment service within the last six months.

And now blockchain may be poised to make its presence felt, according to the Herald Gyeongje. Public blockchain network Terra is receiving the most attention in this regard. The first application to run on the blockchain platform’s recently launched MainNet will be its simple payment solution, Terra X. Using Terra X, you’ll be able to use Terra’s cryptocurrency to pay for goods on TMON, one of Korea’s largest e-commerce sites (an e-commerce site co-founded, it should be noted, by Terra CEO Shin Hyun-seung). Terra’s so-called “Terra Project” promises even wider adoption of the Terra X payment system.

Korean cryptocurrency exchange UPXIDE, meanwhile, runs an online shop that allows users to purchase items such as film tickets, chicken and coffee using four cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Users purchase mobile coupons using crypto; the coupons are then used to pay for the goods.

The language sharing application Ziktalk rewards its users with tokens that can be used to purchase K-pop items and other “Korean Wave” paraphernalia. And in Gangnam, meat startup 6gram and restaurant operator Wolhyang are teaming up to open next month Regular Six, a food court where you can pay for your meal using cryptocurrency. So maybe we really will be buying our lunch with crypto soon rather than latter.