ChainCatcher reported that the Korea Times quoted sources as saying that 100,000 people will participate in a large-scale pilot of tokenized deposits later this year. The newspaper said that the deposit tokens will be "similar to using vouchers", which is consistent with the previously announced plan.
A year ago, the Bank of Korea announced plans to issue a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) to support interbank settlement of tokenized bank deposits. A pilot with up to 100,000 participants will begin in September or October this year.
In June, two government agencies announced they would provide funding for a voucher project being developed by the central bank, where deposit tokens can be used for welfare, cultural, educational and other services. However, today’s report states that the vouchers in the pilot will be used to purchase goods at convenience stores.
“While the timeline seems to be slightly delayed compared to our initial expectations, we are working to launch a CBDC test involving 100,000 participants using deposit tokens by the end of this year, which would be a global milestone,” a banking official told The Korea Times.
