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

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. If you build payment rails or settlement infrastructure for banks, South Korea just proved the market for wholesale CBDC exists and is moving to production. The next wave of buyers—central banks across Asia and beyond—will now copy this two-tier model rather than theorise about it.