Bank of Korea may start open-ended deposit token live trials as early as September

The second phase of Project Hangang, the Bank of Korea’s CBDC-based pilot program, is set to begin in earnest soon, Yonhap News reported. According to the central bank, the Bank of Korea and commercial banks are making final preparations for live transaction tests of deposit tokens in the second phase. If system development and participant recruitment are completed on schedule, live trading could begin as early as September and continue without a fixed end date. Separately, South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance said on July 15 in its economic growth strategy for the second half that it plans to pursue a pilot project next year on tokenized government bonds linked to the Bank of Korea’s wholesale CBDC.