Hyundai Moves Internal Stablecoin Transfers Into Production on Avalanche

Hyundai has moved a stablecoin-based internal remittance system into production readiness on the Avalanche blockchain, becoming the first major South Korean company to publicly introduce this kind of cross-border treasury transfer. The first phase involved a $20,000 transfer from Hyundai Motor America to Hyundai Motor Mexico, with dollars converted into Tether’s USDT and then back into dollars.

The development matters because it shows stablecoins being tested for corporate treasury operations rather than only crypto trading. CoinDesk reported that companies are increasingly exploring the technology to move money between international subsidiaries, settle cross-border payments and reduce the time and cost associated with traditional banking rails.

Hyundai Card, the automaker’s credit card unit and project leader, said the process took an average of about seven minutes. By comparison, the same type of transfer typically takes three to four hours through traditional banking networks, according to the report.

Ava Labs, which develops and supports Avalanche, said Hyundai is the first major enterprise to publicly announce this type of implementation on the network. The companies plan to expand the project to additional payment corridors and currencies as they assess whether the system can scale across more enterprise use cases.

A second pilot involving Hyundai’s European subsidiaries is scheduled to begin later in July. That phase will test local currency transfers and foreign-exchange conversion costs in partnership with Circle, the issuer of USDC, and Visa.