South Korea will begin a pilot for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) covering 100,000 citizens in the first quarter of next year, the Korea Times reported on Thursday.
The pilot program will be jointly run by the Bank of Korea and financial regulators Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Within the scope of the project, 100,000 people (approximately 0.2% of the country’s population) will be able to purchase goods with tokens issued by commercial banks in the form of CBDC. Pilot, will be limited to the purchase of goods and other uses such as money transfers will not be allowed.
According to news in July, Jeju, Busan or Incheon may be preferred for the pilot.
The Bank of Korea sees CBDC as a potential solution to problems with current government-granted grant systems, such as child care subsidies or payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Problems with existing systems include high transaction fees, slow payment and fraud concerns It is located.
Many central banks around the world are exploring CBDCs, considering the decline in the use of cash and consumers increasingly choosing digital payment methods.
Administrative regulations for the digital Turkish lira project developed by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey are expected to be implemented in the 4th quarter of 2024.