South Korea CBDC Tracker

South Korea is in the launch phase. The Bank of Korea is currently running what it calls a CBDC pilot. However, this pilot will involve up to 100,000 people making real day-to-day transactions. Therefore, South Korea is considered to be in the launch phase since its CBDC is open to the public. If the CBDC is shut down on June 30 (the scheduled end date for the project), then South Korea will be moved back to the pilot phase.

CBDC History and Development

In 2022, Bank of Korea governor Chang Yong Rhee delivered a speech titled, “Central Bank Digital Currency: What We Have Learned from a Recent Hands-On Experiment. Governor Rhee outlined the findings gained from a ten-month, retail CBDC pilot that explored the use of distributed ledger technology. Unlike many other central bankers, Governor Rhee said, “Financial inclusion is not a key factor for considering potentially issuing a CBDC, as bank account penetration is almost 100% and various digital payment services are already well-developed.” Instead, he said the “top policy goal” was to prepare for the “growing presence of big techs in financial services.”

When discussing privacy, governor Rhee said, “We considered allowing holders of small amount of CBDC to … send and receive CBDC with a high degree of anonymity and privacy. However, we found that it would become almost impossible to carry out certain functionalities such as freezing wallets in the event of court orders. So, in our design for the experiment we chose to improve compliance at the sacrifice of privacy.”

Later in 2022, the Bank of Korea launched a CBDC landing page on its official website and published a progress report. On the landing page, the Bank of Korea reported that it is “conducting a series of research and experiments on possible forms and designs of a CBDC.” In the progress report, the Bank of Korea discussed the retail CBDC pilot previously mentioned by governor Rhee.

In addition to what was already said, the report noted that the CBDC pilot was built “in the cloud on a hybrid model featuring a two-tier structure where the BOK manages the CBDC lifecycle while participant nodes support CBDC circulation and provide end user services, including digital wallets and KYC3 requirements.” The pilot operated from August 2021 to June 2022. There were four core findings. First, efficiency decreased as both the number of nodes and the number of users increased. Second, while some issues persisted, second-layer solutions built on top of the network may be able to mitigate the issues. Third, offering anonymity reduced the efficiency of transactions. Fourth, and finally, more research was needed.

In 2024, reporting in the Korea Times shared that the Bank of Korea plans to launch a new pilot in late 2024 that involves 100,000 South Korean citizens. However, given that this “pilot” would involve the general public, this move would put South Korea in the launch phase if it does take place.

In April 2024, the Bank for International Settlements announced Project Agorá, a project in collaboration with the central banks of South Korea, France, England, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, and the United States. According to the announcement, the project is meant to “explore how tokenisation of wholesale central bank money and commercial bank deposits on programmable platforms can improve the monetary system.” Project Agorá moved to the next phase in May 2024 with a call for private sector participation.

In November 2024, the Bank of Korea, the Financial Services Commission, and the Ministry of Science and ICT announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding on CBDC. Seven banks were permitted to run pilot tests within a regulatory sandbox. Business Korea reported that Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Byung-hwan said, “The real transaction test is a stage to see what convenience CBDC can provide to the public.”

Reports emerged in December 2024 that the Bank of Korea was taking steps to increase its workforce for the first time in 14 years. According to reporting in Maeil Business Newspaper, “The move comes as economic statistics such as national income and income distribution have increased, and demand for related R&D personnel has increased ahead of the introduction of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).” Furthermore, the Bank of Korea’s Department of Digital Currency Research was expanded into the “Digital Currency Research Lab for CBDC-related technology development and system research.”

In March 2025, the Bank of Korea officially announced the launch of a CBDC pilot (Project Hangang) from April 1 to June 30. Up to 100,000 people will be able to participate and make real day-to-day purchases. Therefore, South Korea is considered to be in the launch phase so long as this project is active. As the Bank of Korea described it, “users will use the deposit tokens converted from their bank deposits to purchase goods and services” while the CBDC issued by the Bank of Korea “is held only by participating banks and functions as a real-time settlement asset for deposit token transactions between banks.” The banks in question include Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, Nonghyup, the Industrial Bank of Korea, and Busan Bank.

The Bank of Korea also published an overview and a user guide for the project as well as several introductory videos. To open a CBDC wallet, users must have an account with one of the participating banks. Payments are then made by scanning QR codes at participating stores. For example, Kyobo, 7-Eleven, and Ediya Coffee are among the stores that accept the CBDC. However, users are limited to holding 1 million won ($689) at any one time and cannot hold more than 5 million won ($3,445) for the duration of the project.

The South Korean government also planned to use the CBDC for a voucher program to support culture, childcare, and small business owners. Speaking at a press briefing, Bank of Korea official Kim Dong-sup told the Korea Herald that “Digital currency allows for programmable payments—for instance, parents could restrict children’s pocket money to be used only on school supplies, or payments could be authorized only if a certain test score is achieved. This opens the door for public institutions, regional governments and charities to distribute subsidies or donations with conditions attached to ensure their intended use.”

Human Rights and Civil Liberties Concerns

South Korea earned an 83 out of 100 in Freedom House’s 2023 Freedom in the World report. Although there have been some reports of issues around the treatment of human rights and civil liberties, the most relevant concern is the presence of government corruption.

“[Officials] sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity, and there were numerous reports of government corruption at all levels,” according to the U.S. Department of State. The existence of pervasive corruption is a major concern with CBDCs because it calls into question any promises that might be made by the government to limit surveillance, control, or other risks of CBDCs. Furthermore, the existence of corruption calls into question whether CBDC policies might be designed to exert political favoritism through subsidies, price controls, or other targeted restrictions.

For additional information on concerns regarding violations of human rights and civil liberties, see the following reports by Amnesty International, Financial Tyranny Index, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, and the U.S. Department of State. For additional information on concerns regarding the risks of CBDCs, see the following webpage and report by the Cato Institute: The Risks of CBDCs and Central Bank Digital Currency: Assessing the Risks and Dispelling the Myths.

For additional information regarding metrics, the methodology page explains each of the data points and provides their respective sources.