South Korea to Build a Pilot Platform for CBDC

South Korea announced plans to establish a pilot program examining the possibility of developing and launching a digital version of the won. The country’s central bank will focus on how the CBDC will work with mobile payment transactions, internet banking, saving accounts, transferring funds, and more.

South Korea CBDC Pushes Forward

According to a recent Reuters report, the Bank of Korea (BOK) will develop a pilot platform to boost its central bank digital currency (CBDC) endeavor after a few years of dabbling with the idea.

The institution plans to test how the future e-won will maintain its functions with operations such as internet banking, saving accounts, and transferring funds. Additionally, the trials will experiment with mobile payment transactions.

An official of BOK revealed that cash payments had faced a significant decline in the country, and thus these adjustments could benefit the economy:

”The steps we are taking now are to prepare for the changes in the payment settlement system, changing rapidly.”

Moreover, the BOK is currently in the process of searching for a partner to trigger the operation.

South Korea was among the countries that refused to go after the CBDC idea until recently. BOK officials previously denied the demand for such a product but said last year that they need to be prepared if the interest arrives.

CBDCs Around The World

Recently, central bank digital currencies have been a very hot topic, with multiple nations taking decisive steps to develop such innovations. However, according to a recent PwC report, nearly 70% of central banks are nowhere near releasing CBDCs.

Despite the massive interest, the paper informed that most projects are running only pilot programs and are far away from an actual launch.

Interestingly enough, the PwC report placed The Bahamas and Cambodia on the top of the current developments as both projects already saw the light of day. The design in the Caribbean island came by the name of the Sand Dollar and was launched on October, 20th 2020, while the project in the Asian country is called Bakong and arrived shortly after.

China is typically considered the most advanced nation in designing its CBDC. Still, the country is yet to release the digital yuan officially. Nevertheless, the world’s most populated country took the 3rd spot in PwC’s ranking. It has already conducted numerous real-life tests and plans to use the digital yuan in the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.