South Korea’s next CBDC deposit token test adds two banks, higher wallet and holding limits, transfers and treasury payment trials as regulators broaden settlement use cases.
Bank of Korea’s CBDC deposit token initiative, Project Hangang, is moving into a second testing phase that expands both scale and functionality. South Korea’s Financial Services Commission said phase two of the pilot, also referred to as the Han River Plan, has begun with Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank joining, bringing the number of participating banks to nine. The test raises the e-wallet user cap to 500,000 from 100,000, adds wallet-to-wallet transfers and treasury payment trials, and increases per-wallet and cumulative holding limits to 10 million won and 100 million won. Earlier details on the second phase said the program would broaden eligible merchants from affiliated stores to small businesses and large companies, while also adding automatic conversion for deposits and withdrawals, biometric authentication, non-face-to-face electronic wallet opening for businesses and cash receipt issuance. The FSC said the expanded test will examine whether DLT-based payment and settlement can extend into public-sector use and whether smart contracts can make settlement more efficient while reducing verification costs and fraudulent claims.