Sphere and Korea’s Aroot Sign MOU on Cross-Border Payments for Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is one of the world’s major commodity exporters. Crude oil made up about half of its exports in 2025, it produces about 40% of the world’s uranium, and copper and ferroalloys are among its other large exports. Around that trade sits a large network of importers, exporters and logistics companies that pay suppliers and collect revenue across borders, often through several banks and several currencies.

Sphere Labs has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Aroot, a publicly traded Korean company listed on KOSDAQ. It sets out how the two companies intend to work together on payments for businesses trading into and out of Kazakhstan, and to eventually explore Korean won settlement in Korea through Aroot’s subsidiary Most P&S, subject to Korean regulatory requirements. Arnold Lee, CEO and co-founder of Sphere Labs, and Daeseong Lee, Chairman of Aroot, signed the MOU on November 3, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea.

Under the MOU, the two companies will explore connecting FORTA, Aroot’s digital finance platform, to SpherePay, Sphere Labs’ live B2B cross-border payments API. Businesses using FORTA would be able to send and receive international payments in the currencies they already use, without Aroot building local networks country by country. For Sphere Labs, the partnership would bring SpherePay to the trade and logistics businesses Aroot works with in Kazakhstan.

The companies intend to identify businesses with recurring payments between Kazakhstan and Sphere's key markets, such as the US, Mexico and Brazil, for paying overseas suppliers, collecting export proceeds and settling logistics costs. Any business introduced through the partnership would go through Sphere Labs’ standard onboarding, including KYC, KYB, AML and sanctions screening. Any integration would follow the required regulatory approvals and compliance reviews on both sides.

Kazakhstan recorded $143.9 billion in foreign trade in 2025, and freight on the Middle Corridor through the country grew from 0.8 to 4.5 million tons a year over seven years.

“Kazakhstan is becoming one of the most important trade crossroads between Asia and Europe, and the importers, exporters and logistics companies behind its commodity and goods trade often pay and get paid through several banks and currencies before the money arrives, which is precisely the problem SpherePay was built for,” said Arnold Lee, CEO and co-founder of Sphere Labs. “Korea is central to where we intend to take SpherePay in APAC, and Aroot, which operates in both Korea and Kazakhstan, is a natural partner for that work as we grow across the region.”

An Aroot official said, “Building on both companies’ payment infrastructure and compliance capabilities, we will continue working together to provide business customers with reliable payment and settlement services.” 

Compliance-first is how SpherePay, our B2B cross-border payments API, moves billions in annualized volume for businesses and institutions across the US, LATAM, and APAC. The MOU is an early step toward applying the approach Sphere Labs described in One Corridor at a Time to Kazakhstan and Korea, working with a partner that already operates in both.

About Aroot

Aroot Co., Ltd. is a company listed on the KOSDAQ market in Korea. Building on its existing businesses, Aroot is expanding into regulated digital finance and fintech infrastructure. Through its subsidiary based in the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) in Kazakhstan, Aroot obtained licenses from the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) in May 2026 to issue fiat-backed stablecoins and provide digital asset custody services.

Aroot is advancing its digital financial services around FORTA, a cross-border payments and settlement platform, and USDFT, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin. Through MOUs with local logistics companies and other partners in Kazakhstan, Aroot is broadening its collaboration and enhancing its business model, including through live cross-border payment and settlement testing. The company is also pursuing integration with the Visa network and drawing on the payment capabilities of its Korean payment gateway subsidiary, Most P&S, to connect existing payment infrastructure with digital asset-based payments and settlement.