The Bank of Korea plans to involve 100,000 citizens to test the digital won (CBDC). The project is scheduled for the last quarter of 2024.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) intends to conduct a large-scale test of its digital currency in Q4 2024. It will attract 100,000 South Korean citizens to participate in the experiment, which will last three months. This is reported by The Korea Times.
According to the publication, the digital currency will be available as deposit tokens, but participants will be able to use the CBDC only to pay for goods, with no option to store, exchange, or send it to other users.
The testing is aimed at evaluating the feasibility and efficiency of issuing and distributing CBDCs. The BOK officials also plan to integrate the digital won into the Korea Exchange to simulate carbon emissions trading to test the feasibility of using CBDCs in exchange transactions. Representatives of the Bank of Korea also admit “the possibility of conducting separate pilots if banks propose new individual projects.”
In October, the BOK representatives announced the launch of a wholesale CBDC pilot project, during which they planned to conduct research and development of the technical infrastructure of the future digital currency. Earlier, the authorities of South Korea reported that the central bank was preparing to test the CBDC and actively exploring the possibility of using zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) to improve the confidentiality of transactions.
