South Korea eyes September launch for second phase of CBDC pilot: Report

South Korea's central bank is advancing Project Hangang, its wholesale CBDC pilot, to a second phase launching in September 2026, expanding from 7 to 9 participating banks and introducing peer-to-peer transfers, biometric authentication, and government subsidy disbursement tests. The pilot demonstrates a two-tier architecture: a blockchain-based wholesale CBDC issued by the Bank of Korea settling interbank transactions, with commercial banks issuing consumer-facing deposit tokens for everyday payments.

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