The new team under the Digital Currency Lab is preparing a pilot for tokenized government bonds tied to CBDC infrastructure and a unified ledger for deposits, central bank money and asset tokens.
South Korea’s central bank has created an Asset Tokenization Team under its Digital Currency Lab and started preparing a pilot program for tokenized government bonds linked to central bank digital currency infrastructure. The move broadens the Bank of Korea’s digital money work beyond deposit-token testing into asset tokenization, including the issuance and distribution of real-world assets such as government bonds in token form. The new team is pursuing a Unified Ledger structure that would handle deposit tokens, central bank money and asset tokens on a single platform. In that setup, remittances, clearing and settlement could be processed in one flow, reflecting a more integrated design for future financial-market infrastructure. The Bank of Korea has already been running Project Hangang to test central bank money and bank deposits in the form of deposit tokens. It has also created a director-level strategic meeting to address Bank for International Settlements-related agenda items and discuss longer-term financial infrastructure, including deposit tokens and government bond tokenization. The organizational reshuffle also renamed the North Korea Economy Research Office under the Economic Research Institute as the Economic Security Office, reflecting a broader focus on trade, resources and technology as economic security issues.