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The Sui network has announced a strategic partnership with t’order, South Korea’s largest point-of-sale (POS) ordering platform, to roll out commercial stablecoin payments across the country. Revealed in a Sept. 24 blog post, the initiative will integrate QR code and facial recognition technology with a won-pegged stablecoin deployed on Sui.
T’order currently processes more than $4.3 billion in annual transactions, with a network spanning over 300,000 POS devices nationwide. By leveraging blockchain-based settlement, the platform aims to replace costly card fees with faster, low-cost alternatives which is a move particularly significant for South Korea’s small businesses.
“The mass adoption arc for stablecoins and crypto payments is rapidly accelerating, and it’s thrilling to see Sui at the forefront of this trend with innovative partners like t’order,” — Christian Thompson, Managing Director, Sui Foundation.
The partnership marks a major step forward for commercial stablecoin payments, targeting South Korea’s food service industry valued at 190 trillion KRW ($140B).
For years, t’order has positioned itself as a champion of zero-fee payments for small and medium-sized enterprises. By introducing a stablecoin-powered system, the firm intends to cut dependence on traditional card rails, where merchants often shoulder high transaction costs.
“Our partnership with Sui is the next step in that vision, leveraging our unique nationwide deployment capabilities and real-time infrastructure to create a new payment and settlement paradigm — one designed for and centered around small businesses,” — t’order spokesperson, in the official release.
Beyond simple settlement, the initiative also integrates loyalty programs and rewards, all stored on Walrus, a decentralized storage protocol built on the Sui blockchain. This structure ensures transaction records and customer data remain tamper-resistant while enabling programmable loyalty systems tailored to merchants.
For crypto investors, the move highlights how commercial stablecoin payments are evolving from pilot projects into real-world financial infrastructure and at scale.
South Korea has become one of Asia’s most aggressive adopters of stablecoins, driven by government interest in developing a domestic digital asset ecosystem. Policymakers have expressed a desire to reduce reliance on dollar-backed stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) by supporting locally pegged tokens.
One recent milestone was the launch of KRW1, a won-pegged stablecoin issued on the Avalanche blockchain, which quickly gained traction in remittances and payments.
“South Korea is emerging as a global testbed for stablecoin adoption,” said Min-Jae Kim, Senior Analyst at Seoul-based fintech research firm Digital Asset Insight. “If projects like Sui and t’order succeed, we could see commercial stablecoin payments become a default option for everyday transactions.”
Meanwhile, regulators are preparing to unveil a stablecoin framework in October 2025, expected to set standards for collateralization, internal controls, and issuer transparency. Observers believe this will accelerate mainstream adoption by providing clarity for both financial institutions and technology providers.
Despite the announcement, Sui’s native token SUI fell by 3.4% in the 24 hours following the news, extending a decline that began on Sept. 18. Analysts attribute the muted price response to broader market weakness rather than skepticism over the deal.
Still, the long-term outlook for commercial stablecoin payments remains strong. By anchoring transactions to a won-pegged digital asset, Sui and t’order aim to provide an alternative to volatile crypto payments, while reducing the costs tied to fiat settlement systems.
Floris Lugt, digital asset lead at ING is a bank exploring euro-denominated stablecoins recently told Reuters: “Digital payments are the backbone of financial infrastructure, and programmable stablecoins will be a crucial layer of that future.”
For South Korea’s small businesses, the question now is not whether blockchain payments will arrive, but how quickly they will replace traditional options.
The collaboration between Sui and t’order illustrates a global trend: the transition of stablecoins from speculative tools to commercial payment rails. In regions like South Korea, where consumer technology adoption is high and card fees weigh heavily on small enterprises, the shift could come faster than expected.
As regulators finalize rules, banks experiment with euro- and yen-backed stablecoins, and startups like RedotPay hit unicorn status, the competition to dominate commercial stablecoin payments is intensifying.
For now, Sui and t’order’s partnership could serve as one of the first large-scale, merchant-facing deployments of stablecoin-powered payments in Asia potentially setting the stage for broader global adoption.
