South Korea's Digital Currency Ecosystem Expands as Maroo Activates Key Support System

Hashed Open Finance, a fintech subsidiary of global Web3 investment firm Hashed, launched the public testnet of Maroo — a sovereign Layer 1 blockchain designed for Korea’s KRW stablecoin ecosystem. The project is aimed at banks, fintech companies, and AI developers working with won-denominated digital assets.

Maroo is positioned as one of the first public blockchains built around a national currency instead of the U.S. dollar. The infrastructure behind the network already powers BDAN Pocket, a digital wallet connected to the Busan Digital Asset Exchange and used by around 4 million residents in Busan.

The testnet is now available to external developers and financial institutions. Maroo combines a public blockchain structure with built-in compliance tools. The network operates through two modes: an open environment for general users and a regulated path for verified financial activity. Both systems function on the same chain.

A major part of the project is its Programmable Compliance Layer. The system automatically checks transactions for KYC status, transfer limits, blacklist filtering, and other policy requirements before transactions are finalized on-chain. According to the company, this allows compliance rules to work directly at the protocol level instead of relying on manual reviews afterward.

Maroo also introduces the Maroo Agent Wallet Stack, or MAWS, built for AI agents. The system uses the ERC-8004 standard to assign AI tools their own on-chain identities and limited transaction permissions. MAWS supports integrations with tools including Claude skills, Gemini CLI, MCP and Cursor.

Transaction fees on the testnet are paid in OKRW, a won-based test token, removing the need to hold volatile crypto assets during testing. Hashed Open Finance said additional privacy tools and security upgrades are planned before the mainnet launch later this year.

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