Toss and Korea Mint’s Public Payment Experiment: Instant Settlement for Small Business Owners

News has emerged that Toss and the Korea Mint, Security & Printing Press (KMS) have successfully completed technical verification of a blockchain-based public payment infrastructure. This development is expected to dramatically shorten the settlement cycle for small business owners, who have traditionally had to wait days after closing their shops each day to receive their earnings. There have been hidden inconveniences in the common payment methods used at local stores. Even when consumers pay by card, it takes several steps for the money to reach the shop owner’s bank account. It was not uncommon for cash flow to be stifled for days, especially if a weekend was involved. The new method tested by these two institutions could be the key to instantly narrowing the gap between payment and settlement. Let’s take a closer look at what changes this might bring to our local commercial districts.

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Toss and Korea Mint’s Public Payment Experiment: Instant Settlement for Small Business Owners

1. The Need for Settlement Without Waiting

For owners of small neighborhood restaurants, daily cash flow is paramount. If it takes days for the money from customer payments to hit their accounts despite hard work, it can cause significant problems in purchasing ingredients or paying rent. Unlike large franchisees, small business owners operate in a structure where daily sales are directly tied to their livelihood. However, the process of money moving through existing payment networks is more complex and time-consuming than one might think. Because it requires approval and verification stages from multiple institutions, delays are an unavoidable reality.

Within this structure, owners have constantly struggled with financial pressure, frequently visiting banks or bearing high fees. The unfairness of not receiving payment for hard work in a timely manner has been left entirely to the small business owners. Complaints about the frustration of not knowing where the money paid by consumers is stuck have been endless. No matter how much technology advances, the basic framework of business, which is most closely tied to our daily lives, has not changed significantly over the years. It is precisely at this point that the need for a new payment structure allowing for immediate receipt of funds has been strongly raised.

2. The Partnership Between Toss and Korea Mint

To solve these problems, a leading fintech company and a public institution have joined forces. This is the fruit of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last spring between Viva Republica, the operator of Toss, and the Korea Mint, Security & Printing Press. The two institutions recently completed the technical verification process of integrating blockchain technology into public payment infrastructure. This collaboration has explored the possibilities of a new payment ecosystem by combining public trust with private sector agility. Rather than leaving it as an idea confined to imagination, they built a functioning environment to carefully assess its effectiveness.

The combination of Korea Mint’s expertise in public payments and Toss’s advanced technology has laid the foundation for strong synergy. The two institutions chose to layer new technology while maintaining stability, rather than unconditionally breaking existing frameworks. This was because creating a safe and trustworthy environment was of utmost importance, given that these are public services used by citizens in their daily lives. This collaboration is attracting attention as a model case of public-private cooperation aimed at alleviating the practical hardships of small business owners. Expectations are high for what kind of wind this change will bring to commercial districts nationwide.

3. Mapping Payments with Blockchain

The core of this technical verification was to seamlessly connect blockchain-based digital currency with public payment infrastructure. The experiment was conducted in a separate test environment for local love vouchers (regional gift cards), completely isolated from the actual service. First, voucher tokens were charged with digital currency, and the entire process from consumer purchase to payment was implemented from start to finish. A key feature was the seamless verification of the entire payment and settlement flow, extending beyond just the payment to the merchant’s settlement. Instead of verifying isolated functions, they reproduced the entire flow experienced by actual users to enhance reliability.

The blockchain used in this process is Optimism, a Layer 2 solution in the Ethereum ecosystem. Layer 2 technology is considered a smart solution that complements the speed limitations and high costs of the original ecosystem. It can move much faster and lighter because it processes complex transactions on its own and only records the final result on the main chain. Privacy protection technologies were also applied to prevent the exposure of transaction details that could occur on a public ledger. This allowed for direct confirmation that the new payment method can operate stably on a solid technical foundation.

4. Changes in Commercial Districts Brought by Instant Settlement

If this new payment structure is fully applied in the field, the financial situation of small business owners is expected to improve significantly. It becomes possible for settlement to be processed as a single transaction at the moment the consumer presses the pay button. Merchant owners will have the authority to transfer funds directly to their accounts whenever they wish. The era of anxiously waiting for days for money will pass, opening a world where sales proceeds are fully in hand at an early stage. It also offers the double benefit of reducing unnecessary costs incurred during the settlement process.

A virtuous cycle becomes possible where an owner of a neighborhood bakery buys flour in the morning and immediately covers ingredient costs with sales revenue coming in during the afternoon. As capital turnover speeds up, the management burden on owners visibly decreases, allowing for more flexibility in running the store. In addition to saving on financial costs, smoother cash flow provides more time to consider better services. This settlement system, which will serve as a sturdy support for small business owners, will be a catalyst that injects vitality into the alleyway commercial districts of our neighborhoods. This experiment has proven that the day when settlement without waiting becomes the norm is not far off.

5. Harmonizing Safety and Regulatory Compliance

No matter how convenient a technology is, if it is a public service used by countless people every day, safety must be verified as the top priority. Toss officials emphasized that, given the nature of public payment infrastructure, stability and personal information protection must be confirmed first. This experiment also focused on respecting existing operational structures rather than forcibly creating a completely new payment method. They adopted a method of adding blockchain-based currency as an additional means while maintaining the skeleton of the existing public payment flow. This was the wisest path to prevent conflicts with existing systems and ensure safe integration.

Careful measures for personal information protection were also put in place to build an environment where everyone can use it with peace of mind. This is because technical verification was completed that preserves the transparency of blockchain while strictly concealing sensitive information. They are moving in a direction that rigorously complies with strict legal regulations while lightening the burden on small business owners. With the government and private companies working together to establish safety mechanisms, expectations for the commercialization of the technology are growing. Through thorough verification processes, a robust payment infrastructure that everyone can trust will be completed in the future.

6. Toward a Better Payment Ecosystem

This experiment demonstrated by Toss and Korea Mint is likely to be a significant turning point in the history of payments in South Korea. Technology is evolving in a direction that substantively changes our daily lives, moving beyond mere novelty. The attempt to resolve the long-standing hardships of small business owners through technology will resonate more strongly in the future. Although it is still at the technical verification stage, the possibilities confirmed this time will become valuable assets for the future introduction of actual services. We hope that the wind of innovation created by the joint efforts of the government and the private sector will spread warmth to commercial districts in every corner of the country.

Readers, please keep an eye on how much technical effort goes into changing even a small payment made at a store in our neighborhood. When an environment is created where small business owners can do business with a smile, the economic health of our entire society improves as well. Please continue to pay attention to how our lives will become more convenient in the coming world of fast and safe payments. Just as seeds of small change grow into a forest of great innovation, we all cheer for the butterfly effect this experiment will bring. The steps of technology creating a better tomorrow will continue without pause today as well.

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