Bank of Korea Takes the Digital Won Live With Nine Banks in September

Bank of Korea starts live digital-won transactions in September

The Bank of Korea will launch the second phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) programme, known as Project Hangang, in September. The phase adds real transactions for the first time, moving the digital won beyond a closed pilot. The central bank has said the step will lay the groundwork for commercialisation of a digital currency. Large-scale follow-up transactions with all nine banks are planned for the second half of 2026.

Nine banks join the expanded digital-won pilot

The programme expands to nine commercial banks. It includes the country's largest lenders, KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori Financial Group. The second phase adds Gyeongnam Bank and iM Bank to the seven institutions that took part in the first phase. The Bank of Korea has said the wider group is meant to test the system closer to everyday conditions.

Real transactions will test subsidies and consumer payments

The pilot will run two main use cases. The first distributes government subsidies through deposit tokens, so public funds move across the new digital infrastructure. The second supports consumer payments and peer-to-peer transfers with won-pegged tokens. The Bank of Korea has framed the work as a way to cut payment fees for small business owners and to link the system to services such as automated payments.

Commercial banks issue and manage deposit tokens

The Bank of Korea will supply the infrastructure for the institutional CBDC. Each participating bank will then issue and manage its own deposit tokens. These tokens are tokenised versions of customer deposits that people can use for everyday payments. The central bank's wholesale CBDC settles the tokens between banks.

"The Bank of Korea will provide the infrastructure for the institutional CBDC, and each bank will conduct its own business using deposit tokens. From the second phase, we will lay the groundwork for commercialization.", 20 July 2026. — Bank of Korea official

Governor Shin backs a bank-led model over stablecoins

Hyun Song Shin took office as Bank of Korea governor in April 2026. In his inaugural address, he prioritised a CBDC and bank-issued deposit tokens as the core of the country's digital-money system. He gave private stablecoins a secondary role. That stance sets the state-led approach apart from markets that lean on privately issued tokens.

Private stablecoins anchor the wider digital-money market

Private stablecoins remain the main form of digital cash outside central banks. USD Coin (USDC), one of the largest dollar-pegged stablecoins, traded at $1.00 with a market capitalisation near $73.15 billion at the time of publication (CoinPaprika, 20 July 2026). Few countries have moved past pilots to a live retail CBDC, with the Bahamas, Nigeria and Jamaica among the first to launch. According to the Atlantic Council's CBDC tracker, 41 countries are testing a CBDC and 33 more are in development, while several projects have stalled or been cancelled. South Korea's live-transaction phase places it among the more advanced programmes still in progress.