Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO) Overcomes 'Cashless Society' Crisis, Transforms into a 'Digital Trust Company'

[Financial News] The Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO), which faced an existential crisis due to the acceleration of a 'cashless society,' has broken the mold of a traditional currency manufacturer and successfully transformed itself into a 'global digital trust infrastructure company.'
KOMSCO held a press conference on the 17th to mark its 75th anniversary and announced the achievements of the 'Great Transformation of Business' pursued over the past three years, along with a blueprint for future growth toward its 80th anniversary in 2031. The corporation stated that it has completely reorganized its business structure, which was centered on physical currency, into three major pillars centered on new future growth engines: ICT (digital identity and currency), culture (currency goods and artistic coins), and global exports (K-digital IDs and security materials).
Although there was a sense of crisis as sales once plummeted to the 440 billion won range due to the spread of credit cards and mobile payments, the company recorded its highest-ever sales of 639.5 billion won last year under the innovation that 'minting is an industry.' Net profit also increased by 68% over the past two years. In particular, while the proportion of the currency business, which had accounted for the majority of sales since its founding, decreased to 19%, the proportion of non-currency businesses—including identity verification (ID, 25%), special embossing (27%), security printing (18%), and ICT (11%)—exceeded 80%, laying the foundation for sustainable growth.
The achievements of digital transformation have also become firmly established in the daily lives of the public. Representative examples include the 'mobile driver's license' and 'Mobile Resident Registration Card,' which implemented the world's first national identification system using blockchain-based technology. Furthermore, leveraging the 'Digital Onnuri Gift Certificate Integrated Platform,' which has secured 17 million subscribers, the company is expanding its influence into the realm of next-generation public financial infrastructure, such as Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) research and digital subsidy programs for government ministries.
Business-to-consumer (B2C) cultural businesses and the penetration of the global anti-counterfeiting market are also progressing smoothly. The company has launched 'Moneymade,' a brand of unique merchandise such as 'Money Cushion' and 'Money Pen' that recycles 100 tons of shredded currency byproducts annually, and is also making full-scale entry into the 3 trillion won global art coin market. Furthermore, it is taking the lead in establishing a national anti-counterfeiting system to prevent damage from K-brand counterfeit goods by applying advanced authenticity verification technology to products of Korea's leading export companies, such as Samyang Foods Co., Ltd., Amorepacific Corporation, and Cheong Kwan Jang.
The corporation announced its ambition to become the 'world's first fully digital minting institution' by 2031 and achieve '1 trillion won in sales.'
'If we have engraved the nation's trust on paper and metal for the past 75 years, we are now planting that trust in mobile IDs, authenticity verification, and digital currency,' said Sung Chang-hoon, president of KOMSCO. 'We will leap forward as a global public enterprise that supplies safety and trust to the entire Korean industry.'
Meanwhile, this fundamental restructuring of KOMSCO aligns with the common challenges recently faced by central banks and minting institutions in major global nations. Minting institutions in major developed countries, such as Sweden and the United Kingdom, are also rapidly shifting their focus to passport and certificate businesses or expanding security printing technologies into private and public security solutions in response to the sharp decline in cash usage. KOMSCO's mobile ID and blockchain-based identity authentication models are recognized as successful cases established more quickly than in developed nations, and have recently emerged as a benchmark for government agencies in Central and Southeast Asia.

[email protected] Kim Won-jun Reporter