A 9.6 billion won expansion project aims to move deposit-token payments toward everyday use through existing banking and merchant rails, while also testing public-sector applications linked to dBrain.
South Korea has begun a 9.6 billion won project to expand deposit token-based payments from the Bank of Korea’s Project Hangang wholesale CBDC pilot into wider commercial use. Led by the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute, the initiative brings together nine commercial banks, eight payment gateway providers and two large merchants to process deposit token transactions over existing payment infrastructure, allowing consumers to use bank-issued wallet apps while merchants keep current point-of-sale terminals. Officials are also reviewing physical payment cards tied to deposit token wallets. The project was launched by the Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Ministry of Science and ICT on July 22 and selected under the government’s 2026 Blockchain Innovation Leading Project program. Authorities say the system is intended to reduce settlement costs and ease payment fee burdens for small merchants. The plan also extends to government spending, with deposit tokens set to be tested for business expense programs and later linked to dBrain for treasury management and other public finance functions using programmable blockchain features. The rollout follows recent discussions between the Bank of Korea and participating lenders on running deposit tokens continuously as they prepare for commercialization. Earlier plans for the next phase of Project Hangang included more users and merchants, person-to-person transfers, bank-specific deposit token services and business-to-business treasury payments. South Korea continues to distinguish deposit tokens from stablecoins, describing them as tokenized commercial bank deposits issued through a wholesale CBDC framework rather than privately issued digital assets.