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Bank of Korea may start Project Hangang live deposit-token tests with nine banks in September

Bank of Korea may start Project Hangang live deposit-token tests with nine banks in September

Project Hangang’s second phase is set to broaden deposit-token testing to nine banks, add payment features and government subsidy disbursements, and move South Korea’s CBDC-linked model closer to commercialization.

Fact Check
The Yonhap News primary source directly confirms the claim: Project Hangang Phase 2 may resume live transactions as early as September, expands participating banks to 9, adds new payment functions (P2P transfers, biometric authentication, automated deposit/withdrawal), and tests government subsidy disbursements (EV charging facility subsidies, public-sector expenses) using deposit tokens. Bloomingbit and Cointelegraph independently corroborate these details, and the official KDI policy document confirms the 9-bank Phase 2 structure. All elements of the claim are supported by authoritative sources.
Summary

The Bank of Korea is preparing to launch the second phase of Project Hangang in September, expanding the pilot from seven to nine banks by adding Gyeongnam Bank and iM Bank and broadening live testing of deposit-token transactions to as many as 500,000 users. The program builds on a wholesale CBDC issued by the central bank as the settlement layer for commercial bank deposit tokens, rather than a retail CBDC held directly by the public. Phase 1 ran from April to June 2025 with seven banks and 12,000 merchants, recording 114,880 transactions across 81,000 wallets, though only 42% of wallet holders made a payment. The next phase is designed to address that engagement gap and move the project closer to commercialization. New functions include biometric approvals, person-to-person wallet transfers, automatic top-ups, recurring payments, cash-receipt generation and interest payments, alongside the first use of programmable tokens for real government subsidy disbursements. Bank of Korea official Kim Dong-seop described the structure as “a middle ground between a CBDC and a stablecoin.” South Korea’s new Bank of Korea Governor, Shin Hyun-song, has made Project Hangang a centerpiece of his early policy agenda after taking office in April 2026. The expansion comes as Hana Bank develops systems for a won-backed stablecoin and the Ministry of Economy and Finance moves to revise a 76-year-old national asset law to classify cryptocurrencies as national assets, underscoring a broader debate in Seoul over public and private digital money.

Terms & Concepts
  • wholesale CBDC: A central bank digital currency used between financial institutions for settlement rather than held directly by consumers.
  • deposit tokens: Digital representations of commercial bank deposits that consumers and merchants can use for payments on tokenized infrastructure.
  • programmable tokens: Digital money that can carry built-in rules on how, where or when funds may be spent.