The Central Bank of South Korea is set to accelerate its CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) project and plans to conduct a pilot with a group of 100,000 citizens later this year. The Bank of Korea (BOK) will be testing the usability and deposit functions of the digital Korean won (KRW) with this group towards the end of 2024. In October last year, the BOK announced its plans to conduct “CBDC usability tests” with the nation’s top regulators. The bank has also revealed its intentions to build a pilot CBDC network, which will issue and distribute three types of tokens based on institutional CBDC models. The launch of this network is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of this year. Additionally, the BOK plans to conduct real-time transaction tests with ordinary citizens, allowing them to pilot the use of CBDC in commercial settings. However, some critics believe that the launch of a South Korean CBDC could potentially have a negative impact on the country’s fintech and banking sectors. While the digital KRW is still in the pilot stage, private companies may explore corresponding projects as the CBDC project progresses. Nevertheless, the BOK assures that the commercialization of CBDC will provide new innovative services and opportunities for industrial development, rather than posing a risk to existing industries.
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South Korean Central Bank to ‘Speed up’ CBDC Project
