Kakao Maps Stablecoin Payments, AI Content and Robotaxi Investment Ahead of Corporate Split

A 10 Trillion Won Target Built Around Payments, Content and Mobility

Kakao plans to connect won stablecoin payments with shopping, gifts and entertainment while expanding AI video production and financing autonomous transport, as it prepares to separate its businesses into Kakao AI and Kakao X. The proposed restructuring carries a January 1, 2027 completion target, following an extraordinary shareholder meeting scheduled for December 17, 2026.

The businesses assigned to Kakao X have a demanding financial objective: more than 10 trillion won in consolidated annual revenue by 2030, supported by average annual growth of 13.3% in revenue from its core businesses. Kakao AI has a separate annual revenue target of 6 trillion won for the same year.

Several details show how Kakao intends to pursue those goals. Kakao Piccoma plans to release about 80 AI animations by the end of 2026. Paid revenue from those animations in September was 4.5 times the level recorded in May, when the service launched. The group also wants to develop payment uses for stablecoins across webtoons, music, live performances and the Kakao T mobility app.

Those ambitions are at different stages. AI animation already has a reported revenue record, although no absolute revenue figure has been disclosed. Stablecoin payments remain dependent on legislation and regulatory decisions. The group task force has said that concrete arrangements for connecting stablecoins to KakaoTalk Gift have not been decided.

The distinction matters for investors considering the split. Kakao is presenting an operating plan spanning existing consumer services, new financial infrastructure and transport projects that require substantial capital. The restructuring itself will not establish that every proposed service is ready to launch or that the revenue targets will be met.

What the Split Would Change

Kakao approved the separation plan at a board meeting on August 21, 2026. Kakao AI would become the company responsible for AI businesses, while the continuing company, Kakao X, would retain other businesses and investment functions.

Kakao AI intends to turn KakaoTalk into an agentic AI platform. In practical terms, an AI agent would respond to a message by helping a user search, receive recommendations, buy something or make a payment, connecting with relevant services and specialist agents where necessary.

Kakao X would focus on fintech, content and mobility, with digital assets, live entertainment, global fandom platforms, robotaxis, robot trucks and physical AI identified as growth areas. Physical AI refers to AI used in machines that act in the real world, rather than only producing digital responses.

The announced sequence gives shareholders several opportunities to examine the proposal before the planned completion:

• August 21, 2026: Kakao's board approved the split plan.
• September 16, 2026: Kakao held an online meeting for small shareholders. Details were released on September 17.
• October 13, 2026: An analyst meeting is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at Kakao AI Campus, covering AI strategy and subsidiary growth plans.
• October 20, 2026: A small shareholder meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Korea Financial Investment Association's Bulls Hall, with a conference call alongside the in person event.
• December 17, 2026: An extraordinary shareholder meeting is planned.
• January 1, 2027: Kakao aims to complete the separation.

Why Gift Purchases Are a Stablecoin Priority

Kakao, KakaoBank and Kakao Pay are working through a group task force on a financial ecosystem extending from stablecoin issuance to custody, distribution, payments and transfers. A won stablecoin is a digital token designed to maintain a value tied to the Korean won. Custody means safeguarding the digital assets or the credentials needed to control them.

KakaoTalk Gift provides a potential route into everyday purchases. The service handles approximately 190 million gifts annually and is also described as processing around 540,000 gifts a day. It carries products from more than 8,700 brands, with over 640,000 product types, ranging from mobile gift certificates to goods delivered to recipients.

The two activity figures should be treated as approximate rather than an exact conversion. Dividing 190 million by 365 gives about 521,000 gifts a day, slightly below the separately reported daily figure of 540,000. Either measure indicates a substantial existing transaction base.

The proposed approach is to add stablecoins as a payment option within services people already use. Kakao would then seek to extend payments to other subsidiaries, including content and mobility businesses. The task force has also identified digital wallet transfers and payments, along with payment and settlement services for foreign visitors in South Korea, as possible uses.

There is no confirmed launch date for Gift integration. Its availability is conditional on legal and regulatory issues being resolved, and the task force's statement that concrete plans are undecided limits how far the proposal can be described as a committed rollout.

Kakao Pay's existing reach helps explain the interest. It had 42 million members and an average of 24 million monthly users in the figures reported in November 2025. NaverPay had 30 million monthly users, 6 million more, or 25% above Kakao Pay's figure. These are platform audiences, not evidence of demand for stablecoins.

Bank Development and Overseas Partnerships

KakaoBank's stablecoin initiative had reportedly reached the development stage by November 26, 2025. Recruitment for blockchain backend developers called for knowledge of smart contracts and token standards, together with experience managing transactions and operating full nodes. Smart contracts are programs that execute instructions on a blockchain, while full nodes maintain and check its transaction record.

KakaoBank Chief Financial Officer Kwon Tae-hoon had said in August 2025 that the bank was reviewing digital asset issuance and custody options. Kakao Pay also filed six applications concerning possible stablecoin ticker names in June 2025: PKRW, KKRW, KRWP, KPKRW, KRWKP and KRWK. Such preparatory steps do not establish approval to issue a token.

The group has widened its partnership network. Agreements signed with Grab and Thailand's SCBX in December covered potential services between South Korea and Southeast Asia. Discussions with Grab include issuance, distribution and regional expansion, while work with SCBX concerns overseas payments and remittances.

Technology arrangements include Fireblocks and Circle Internet Group. Kakao also began a proof of concept with Kyobo Life in March to examine digital asset applications in insurance and has worked with Bonanza Factory since April 2025 on compliance and controls against money laundering. The partnership account does not specify a year for every month it mentions.

Shin Won-keun, chief executive of Kakao Pay, described the group's approach as working with specialist businesses to turn the technology into usable services:

We will work with specialized partners to develop practical business applications.

KakaoBank Chief Executive Yun Ho-young similarly identified cooperation across countries and industries as necessary to bring new financial services into everyday use. The regulatory question remains separate from those commercial preparations. In the November 2025 account, the Bank of Korea maintained that only registered banks should be permitted to issue won stablecoins, while legislative efforts had made limited progress. That account does not establish the final rules governing Kakao's later plans.

Piccoma Moves From AI Animation Toward New Formats

Kakao Piccoma plans to publish about 80 AI animations by the end of 2026, then begin producing AI live action videos and animations based on novels in 2027. This gives the content business a product schedule more specific than the group's broader growth categories.

Paid revenue from AI animations in September was 4.5 times May's launch month revenue. Expressed as a change, that is a 350% increase from the May level. Without the underlying revenue amounts, however, it is not possible to determine how much these productions contribute to Piccoma's total business or whether they are profitable.

The next production formats would expand the range of stories Kakao can adapt beyond its initial animations. The announced plans do not provide production budgets, licensing terms or a revenue target for AI video, leaving those commercial details unresolved.

Piccoma is also preparing to expand its Piccoma Kuji character merchandise business to Japanese comics and connect it with overseas physical retailers in 2027. A separate service specializing in BL, or boys' love, content is being prepared. BL is a genre centered on romantic relationships between male characters.

These initiatives connect digital reading and video with merchandise and specific audience groups. They also give substance to Kakao X's interest in global fandom platforms and live entertainment. Stablecoin payments could eventually sit alongside those businesses, but the plans do not confirm a single launch schedule linking the content expansion and payment projects.

Mobility Needs Financing Before Autonomous Services Can Scale

Kakao's mobility strategy includes obtaining vehicle leasing finance and examining ways to securitize financial assets. The intended purpose is to support investment in autonomous driving, including robotaxis and robot trucks.

Vehicle leasing finance can fund access to a fleet without requiring every vehicle to be purchased outright at the start. Securitization involves packaging assets or their expected cash flows into securities that can be sold to investors. Whether that approach is suitable depends on the assets, their cash flows and the terms offered to investors.

The financing focus distinguishes mobility from the content expansion. Publishing new video formats requires production and distribution spending, while autonomous transport also involves vehicles and deployment infrastructure. Kakao's plans acknowledge that funding structure is part of the mobility strategy, rather than treating autonomous driving solely as a software project.

No financing amount, securitization structure or robotaxi deployment date is specified. The proposal to connect payments with Kakao T is another prospective component, not confirmation that autonomous services and stablecoin payments will arrive together.

Investment Resources and the Valuation Argument

Kakao X expects to draw on approximately 2.3 trillion won from asset liquidations and 4.1 trillion won in investment capital held by subsidiaries. Together, those figures amount to 6.4 trillion won in identified resources, although they should not be treated as one unrestricted cash balance available immediately.

The group argues that separating businesses with different needs would improve decision making and capital allocation. Kim Do-young, the designated chief executive of Kakao X, has described the objective as greater business specialization and more efficient use of resources, ultimately improving company and shareholder value.

A valuation comparison helps explain that argument. The cited average estimate of the group's sum of the parts value is about 34.2 trillion won, against a recent three month average market capitalization of roughly 16.8 trillion won. The difference is 17.4 trillion won, making the estimate approximately 2.04 times the market value used in the comparison.

Sum of the parts valuation estimates what separate businesses might be worth and combines those estimates. It is not a transaction price or a guarantee of what either company will trade at after separation. The gap illustrates the valuation case being presented, not a return shareholders are assured of receiving.

How Shareholder Returns Would Be Funded

The proposed shareholder return policies reflect the different business structures. Kakao AI plans to use 20% to 35% of its separate adjusted free cash flow as its basic return funding. If that cash flow increases by at least 50% from the previous year, the allocation could rise to a maximum of 40%.

Free cash flow broadly measures cash remaining after operating and investment needs, although the company's adjusted measure may differ from a simple accounting calculation. The policy therefore links distributions to cash generation rather than directly to the 6 trillion won revenue target.

Kakao X plans to use 30% of subsidiary dividends after tax and 30% of investment gains after capital costs and taxes. Its distributions would consequently depend on cash arriving from subsidiaries and realized investment gains, not just growth in consolidated revenue.

Kakao has also reaffirmed a 300 billion won share buyback and cancellation plan using gains from the sale of Dunamu shares. Buying back and cancelling shares reduces the number outstanding, but the financial effect for shareholders depends on execution and the wider performance of the business.

After the split, the companies plan to disclose key measures covering revenue, profitability, investment and shareholder returns, together with capital allocation principles. Those disclosures would give investors a basis for checking whether new projects generate cash as well as revenue.

Shareholder Questions Put Governance in Focus

The restructuring has also faced criticism over consultation. Kakao's union said that 14 of the 16 questions answered at the September online shareholder meeting had been prepared by the company, while only two questions from participating shareholders received answers. The union said approximately six minutes were devoted to actual shareholder questions.

On those figures, prepared questions accounted for 87.5% of the questions answered. That is the union's account of the meeting, not an independently established measure of how all submitted questions were handled.

The union requested publication of all shareholder questions, written answers to those left unanswered and another public meeting attended by Chief Executive Jung Shin-ah. It also argued that explanations of the split and protections for shareholder value and working conditions were insufficient.

Kakao has said it will strengthen shareholder communication. The October 20 meeting, sponsored by NH Investment & Securities, would combine an in person gathering with a conference call. Kakao has not separately established that the event was arranged in response to the union's demands. Presentation materials are due on its investor relations website on the day of each October event.

The shareholder mix makes the consultation relevant beyond institutions. Figures for the end of June 2026 put the largest shareholder and related parties at 24.1%, foreign investors at 26.7%, domestic institutions at 10.8%, and individuals and other companies at 38.2%.

Kakao has also disclosed four independent director candidates for Kakao X: Ham Chun-seung, president of PH&C; Cha Kyung-jin, a Hanyang University professor; Kim Sun-wook, managing attorney at Seung & Partners; and Cho Sang-wook, senior adviser at PJT Partners. Their candidacies form part of the governance preparations, but do not by themselves mean appointments have been completed.

The next scheduled milestones are the October investor meetings and December shareholder meeting. Before the targeted January separation, investors still need to distinguish proposed services from confirmed launches, financing resources from committed spending, and revenue goals from demonstrated cash generation.

Key Points

• Kakao targets a January 1, 2027 split, following a shareholder meeting scheduled for December 17, 2026.
• Kakao X aims for more than 10 trillion won in annual consolidated revenue by 2030. Kakao AI targets 6 trillion won.
• Won stablecoin payments are being explored for gifts, shopping, content and mobility, subject to regulation. Gift integration has no concrete finalized plan.
• Piccoma plans about 80 AI animations in 2026 and new AI video formats in 2027. September paid animation revenue was 4.5 times May's level.
• Mobility plans include leasing finance and possible asset securitization to support autonomous transport investment.
• Kakao has reaffirmed a 300 billion won share buyback and cancellation plan, while its union is seeking fuller answers about the restructuring.