KRWQ Appoints Finance and Blockchain Executive Dave Shin as Chief Operating Officer

SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- KRWQ, the first fiat-backed multichain Korean won stablecoin, today announced the appointment of Dave Shin as its new Chief Operating Officer. KRWQ was created by IQ in partnership with Frax. Dave brings more than fifteen years of senior experience in traditional finance at global institutions such as TD Bank, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, and Standard Chartered, combined with one of the most accomplished blockchain leadership records across LayerZero, Klaytn under Kakao Group, Immutable, Tezos, and Bitcoin.com.

Dave's traditional finance background includes serving as Asia Head of Global Equity Derivatives and Repo Sales at TD Bank, along with senior roles at Barclays in Hong Kong and Morgan Stanley Japan. Across these roles he contributed to regional trading, structured products, market access, and institutional client development throughout Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China, India, and Southeast Asia.

In blockchain, Dave has become a well known builder of large-scale ecosystems. He drove global adoption for Klaytn under Kakao Group, oversaw Asia and EMEA business development at Immutable, led Asia Pacific growth efforts for Tezos, and earlier helped launch the exchange business at Bitcoin.com. Most recently, he served as Head of Business Development for Asia at LayerZero Labs, where he directed regional exchange integrations, institutional partnerships, and LayerZero's go to market strategy.

Dave is also the author of The Web3 Era, published globally by Wiley. His book explores digital identity, artificial intelligence, de dollarization, shifting global power dynamics, and the emergence of new economic systems shaped by Web3 and the Global South.

As COO, Dave will oversee KRWQ's operational buildout and its integration into exchanges, liquidity venues, and institutional workflows. His experience in derivatives, funding markets, and blockchain execution gives him a unique vantage point on how KRWQ can impact offshore KRW pricing and settlement.

"Developing an offshore KRWQ stablecoin market presents a structural efficiency upgrade for KRW risk transfer. Today's KRW NDF market embeds significant basis and funding frictions driven by capital controls, onshore liquidity constraints, and bilateral credit lines. KRWQ provides a digitally settled alternative that collapses settlement risk, reduces balance-sheet usage, and enables continuous mark-to-market liquidity. For macro traders, hedgers, and market-makers, an offshore KRWQ venue could compress NDF spreads, tighten forward points, and materially lower the all-in cost of expressing KRW exposure," said Dave Shin, Chief Operating Officer of KRWQ.

"Dave has a rare combination of experience as an executive in traditional finance as well as blockchain infrastructure. He understands how major banks, exchanges, and liquidity venues think because he has operated inside them, and he understands how to scale blockchain networks because he has already done it with LayerZero, Klaytn, Immutable, and Tezos. KRWQ is entering a phase where we need that exact mix of credibility and execution. We are excited to have Dave leading our operations," said Navin Vethanayagam, Chief Brain of IQ.

"Dave's operational expertise in blockchain and his background managing derivatives and other complex products in traditional finance make him the ideal person to lead KRWQ's operations. I'm looking forward to working with him as KRWQ grows and continues building on top of Frax's infrastructure," said Sam Kazemian, Founder and CEO of Frax.

About KRWQ

KRWQ is the first fiat-backed stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Korean won. Developed by IQ in partnership with Frax, KRWQ brings the Korean won on chain as a secure, compliant, and scalable settlement layer for global markets. KRWQ is built on proven infrastructure with a controlled mint and redeem framework designed for exchanges and market makers.

For more information, visit www.KRWQ.cash

IQ Media Contact:
Gary Bird
FortyThree, Inc.
[email protected]
831.888.9011

SOURCE IQ