Recent news from South Korea indicates that its central bank has successfully carried out a test pilot project in the digital currency arena. Bank of Korea’s central bank digital currency simulation went according to plan. Items handled in this phase included the manufacture, issue, and distribution of currency in a test environment.
Based on the good results of Phase 1, BOK plans to further explore the implementation of other functions. This includes enhancing the protection of personal information, the addition of offline payments to name a few. The Bank’s spokesperson, in another statement, said that more work has to be done to confirm if their digital currency issue would be effective in the real world.
Once the second phase of development and testing is complete in June 2022, the bank has plans to assess the project’s overall viability. It also plans to continue ease of use exercises with the help of the country’s financial institutions.
Central banks in many countries have been doing studies and exploring the viability of CBDCs as an alternative. Many banks have been testing and running trials so that they can facilitate wide availability and use of digital currency.
It is an established fact that the Bank of Korea has been working on the CBDC issue since June 2020. As early as July 2020, BOK chose a blockchain company Ground X to help it to build its CBDC pilot platform. The whole program has been fairly successful up to now
