Overview
- The Bank of Korea will begin Phase 2 of its retail CBDC pilot in September with nine banks and up to 500,000 users testing live deposit tokens and merchant payments.
- Phase 2 will add biometric approvals, person-to-person transfers, automatic top-ups, interest and programmable rules for deposit tokens and will test direct government subsidy disbursements using those rules.
- Documents released to lawmakers and reported July 21 show Phase 1 relied on pre-launch IT reviews and vulnerability scans that used bank self-inspection teams and selected firms, and they show no record of an independent post‑pilot government security audit.
- The central bank has defended its pre-launch checks as comprehensive and in line with FSS procedures, while regulators and industry groups are pressing for clearer external verification and stronger AML and fraud-detection controls for the next phase.
- The program uses a wholesale CBDC ledger with commercial banks issuing blockchain deposit tokens, a design officials call distinct from private stablecoins even as banks build won‑backed stablecoin systems and lawmakers update digital-asset rules, and the September tests will be watched for effects on privacy, merchant costs and public trust.