KRWQ Stablecoin Launches on Solana for KRW Liquidity

IQ, in partnership with Frax, announced Wednesday that KRWQ expanded to the Solana blockchain. The deployment is intended to establish KRWQ as a settlement asset for Korean won liquidity on Solana and to enable KRW-denominated trading across onchain venues.

According to IQ, the Solana launch will support perpetual futures, onchain foreign exchange markets, arbitrage strategies and cross-margin trading between KRW and USD stablecoins. The company cited Solana's low-latency execution and deep liquidity as factors in choosing the Layer 1 network.

KRWQ first launched in October on Base, a Layer 2 network. In March the token began trading on spot and perpetual venues at EDX Markets, where Korean won perpetual futures were listed on EDXM International.

IQ estimates roughly $40 billion in daily KRW spot volume and about $60 billion in offshore non-deliverable forward markets could be consolidated into a single onchain market using KRWQ.

South Korea is drafting stablecoin rules under the Digital Asset Basic Act. While that legislation is under development, IQ has not marketed KRWQ to South Korean retail investors and is focusing the expansion on institutional and international market participants.

Dave Shin, chief operating officer of KRWQ, noted: “Solana provides the performance and ecosystem depth needed to scale KRW liquidity onchain. We are seeing clear demand for non-USD trading pairs, particularly in derivatives.”

IQ and Frax plan integrations with Solana's decentralized exchanges and broader trading infrastructure to build liquidity and utility for KRW-denominated products, and to provide faster settlement and direct onchain access to Korean won exposure for traders.