Bank of Korea to begin CBDC testing with 100,000 consumers
Date: 2025-03-12 Author: Oliver Abernathy Categories: IN WORLD
South Korea will begin a trial of its digital currency in March 2025 involving 100,000 consumers using depository tokens issued by seven major banks. According to local sources, the participants will include financial institutions such as KB Kookmin, Shinhan, and Hana Bank. This phase of the trial, which is a collaboration between the Bank of Korea, the Financial Services Commission, and the Financial Supervisory Authority, will involve the use of CBDC tokens to pay for goods and services at retail outlets such as 7-Eleven, Kyobo Book Centre, and the Ddaenggyeoyo delivery app.
The project is expected to last about three months. However, a Bank of Korea spokesperson said there is a possibility that the pilot could be pushed back to April because it requires coordination with multiple organizations.
Test participants will be able to apply for depository tokens with a limit of 1 million won (approximately $688) and will use QR codes to conduct transactions. The project has been pushed back several times since its announcement in 2023. In 2024, the Financial Services Commission of South Korea also said that the pilot would include a digital voucher management platform, which would allow the government to distribute and track vouchers. However, no exact timeline for this part of the project has been announced.
South Korea is actively developing and testing CBDCs as part of an effort to replace cryptocurrencies with controlled digital solutions. The Bank of Korea noted that Koreans have traditionally been active in cryptocurrency trading, which has fueled interest in blockchain technology among both large corporations and startups.
