South Korea’s central bank is reportedly set to launch a real transaction test for its central bank digital currency this month, involving 100,000 consumers and seven banks.
South Korea is set to begin real-world testing of its CBDC in March, with 100,000 consumers using deposit tokens issued by seven banks, per local news outlets. According to reports, the trial will include major financial institutions such as KB Kookmin, Shinhan, and Hana Bank.
The pilot, which is understood to be carried out in a collaboration between the Bank of Korea, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, will see seven banks issuing deposit tokens based on CBDC, which consumers can use to make payments at merchants such as 7-Eleven, Kyobo Book Centre, and delivery app Ddaenggyeoyo. The test is expected to run for about three months. However, a spokesperson for the Bank of Korea admitted there’s still a possibility that the pilot will be pushed to April “as it requires cooperation with several institutions.”
Participants can apply for deposit tokens with a limit of 1 million won (around $688) and will use QR codes for transactions.
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South Korea has been working on a large-scale CBDC pilot for a while, but the schedule has kept shifting. Crypto.news first reported about the pilot back in November 2023 and in November 2024. In 2024, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission claimed that the pilot would also include a digital voucher management platform allowing the government to distribute and track vouchers. However, the FSC didn’t specify a timeline for the project.
As crypto.news earlier reported, South Korea is actively seeking a way to replace crypto with its own controlled digital solutions as Koreans are “widely known for their active involvement in crypto trading,” the Bank of Korea said at the time. Furthermore, there’s an active interest and significant investment in the field of blockchain technology from both large scale enterprises and start-ups, the regulator added.
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