The Bank of Korea’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects are moving forward with nine participating banks.
The second phase of BOK’s CBDC program is scheduled for September with testing of real transactions, Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday.
“The Bank of Korea will provide the institutional CBDC infrastructure, and each bank will conduct its own business using deposit tokens,” a BOK official told YNA. “From the second phase, we will lay the foundations for commercialization.”
The second phase of BOK will expand to include a total of nine participating banks, including Gyeongnam Bank and iM Bank. The country’s three largest banks, KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori Financial Group, are also participating in the CBDC project.
“The goal is to create an environment in which the won can be exchanged freely, regardless of time or place,” the government was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
CBDCs are a blockchain-based digital form of fiat currency, managed by the issuing central bank and considered legal tender. Only a handful of countries have officially introduced a CBDC. The Bahamas unveiled one in October 2020, Nigeria in 2021 and Jamaica in 2022, according to the Atlantic Council’s CBDC tracker.
