Central bank money
Bank of Korea: public deposit-token transactions start from year-end
APACSource: Bank of Korea
- In an official Bank of Korea blog post dated 8 October 2026, the head of its Digital Currency Planning Team wrote that the Bank and participating banks are in final preparations for follow-on live transactions with the general public under Project Hangang Phase 2, due to resume within the year, while the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment's EV charging-facility subsidy programme is already running on the system.
- Under the Bank of Korea's digital currency R&D rules, banks must hold 7% of the deposit tokens they issue as reserves, and deposit insurance applies; only banks can hold the wholesale digital currency, and the Bank of Korea says it has no plan to introduce or issue a retail CBDC.
- (Source text in Korean; summary translated.)
Why it matters
Korean banks issuing Project Hangang deposit tokens carry a 7% reserve requirement and deposit-insurance coverage on the tokens, the same treatment as deposits, which sets the cost and balance-sheet baseline for any commercial tokenised-deposit offer in Korea.
Read the original: Bank of Korea ↗
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More detail
Who is affected
Banks participating in Project Hangang, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment's EV charging-facility subsidy programme, and members of the public taking part in the live transactions.
What remains uncertain
- The post gives no calendar start date for the public live transactions, only that they resume within the year (from year-end).
Key facts
- Event
- Official blog / explainer
- Jurisdiction
- APAC
- Source
- Bank of Korea
- Source tier
- Tier 1 · Regulator / central bank
- Product
- Tokenized deposits
In the database
Institutions
How we verified this
The source says
“현재 한국은행 디지털화폐 연구개발 규정에 따라 은행은 예금 토큰 발행액의 7%를 지급준비금으로 적립해야 하며, 발행 은행의 파산 위험에 대비하여 예금보험도 적용된다.”
“이미 기후에너지환경부의 전기차 중속 충전시설 보조금 사업이 진행중인 가운데, 한국은행과 참가 은행들은 연내 재개될 예정인 일반인 대상 후속 실거래를 통해 더 많은 국민들이 보다 편리하게 예금 토큰 기반의 미래 지급 서비스를 체험해 볼 수 있도록 막바지 준비에 한창이다.”
“이러한 점을 고려하여 한국은행은 2023년 프로젝트 한강 출범과 함께 일반인용 CBDC 관련 연구개발 및 파일럿을 진행하지 않고 있다.”
“우선 일반인용 CBDC는 누구나 사용할 수 있지만 기관용 디지털화폐는 은행 외에 개인이나 비은행 기업들은 보유할 수 없다.”
“연말부터 시작할 프로젝트 한강 일반 국민 참여 실거래에 많은 국민들이 참여하여 미래 디지털화폐 및 금융 인프라를 미리 경험해 보시기를 부탁드린다.”
Verbatim from Bank of Korea, matched word for word against the live page on 31 October 2026.
Sources
- PrimaryBank of Korea ↗2026-10-08T1Regulator
Evidence
- Confidence
- High Primary source (regulator / official record); quote string-matched against the live page.
- Quote verified
- 2026-10-31 20:01 UTC
- Archived snapshot
- SHA-256
f6a200f9cd30cea8…· fetched 2026-10-30 · Wayback Machine copy ↗ - Source type
- Primary Bank of Korea ↗
Change log (1)
- 2026-10-30 Published
AI-assisted: the summary and analysis were drafted with AI from the primary source and checked by the editors. AI-drafted from the primary source; quote string-matched against the live source page.
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