Visa and Dunamu, the South Korean fintech company behind cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, are teaming up to investigate new applications for stablecoins, digital payments and artificial intelligence-driven commerce.
The partnership will bring together Visa’s global payments infrastructure and Dunamu’s digital-asset expertise to examine potential solutions for stablecoin-based payments, cross-border transfers and settlement services across major markets.
Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok said the rapid development of AI, stablecoins and tokenization could significantly reshape the way financial services and commerce operate. The companies aim to explore ways of connecting blockchain-based assets with traditional financial infrastructure.
OUSD Among Stablecoins Under Consideration
As part of the collaboration, Visa and Dunamu are evaluating several potential stablecoin-based business models, including possible applications involving Open Standard’s Open USD (OUSD).
OUSD is a dollar-backed stablecoin introduced by Open Standard earlier this year. The project has said that more than 140 companies have expressed interest in using the asset, including major names across payments, finance and technology.
However, Dunamu emphasized that OUSD has not been selected as the partnership’s preferred stablecoin. It is one of several projects currently being evaluated.
The clarification is notable because Upbit previously stated that it was not involved in issuing OUSD after Dunamu appeared on a list of companies associated with the initiative.
AI Agents Could Become Part of Digital Payments
The partnership will also examine agentic commerce, an emerging model in which AI systems can perform commercial activities on behalf of users.
Under this concept, an AI agent could potentially search for products or services, compare available options and complete purchases or payments according to instructions from the user.
Visa and Dunamu will explore how these AI-driven transactions could connect with stablecoin payment and settlement infrastructure.
The broader objective is to determine whether AI agents and digital assets can work together to create more automated forms of commerce.
Bridging Traditional Finance and Digital Assets
The collaboration reflects growing interest from major payment companies in combining established financial networks with blockchain-based infrastructure.
For Visa, stablecoins could provide another mechanism for moving and settling value across borders. For Dunamu, the partnership provides an opportunity to connect its digital-asset capabilities with one of the world’s largest traditional payment networks.
Rather than committing to a single stablecoin or product at this stage, the companies are evaluating multiple models and technologies.
If successful, their work could eventually contribute to new payment, remittance and settlement services that combine stablecoins, traditional financial infrastructure and AI-powered commerce.
