Svmuu News: The Bank of Korea announced the launch of the second phase of its digital won pilot in collaboration with nine commercial banks. The pilot will test the real-world application of bank-issued, central bank-backed deposit tokens, including government subsidy disbursements and peer-to-peer payments. The two newly participating banks, Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank, join the original seven to conduct large-scale testing.
Kim Dong-sub, head of the Bank of Korea's digital currency planning team, stated that the pilot focuses on merchants and businesses with high public relevance and high payment processing fees, exploring the potential for digital currency payments to significantly reduce transaction costs. Phase 2 testing will also support peer-to-peer transfers, which were difficult to achieve in previous phases.
Furthermore, the Bank of Korea plans to begin disbursing government subsidies in digital currency in the first half of this year, with the first application scenarios potentially including subsidies for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Simultaneously, the central bank is also exploring applications where AI agent systems (AI agents) could use the digital won to purchase goods and services.
The launch of this pilot coincides with delays to South Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act (DABA), caused by disagreements among regulators over stablecoin issuance authority, particularly regarding who has the right to issue stablecoins pegged to the Korean won. (CoinDesk)