Bank of Korea Scales Up CBDC Pilot to 500,000 Users and Nine Banks in September

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Bank of Korea will expand its CBDC pilot (Project Hangang) to nine banks and up to 500,000 users starting in September. The expansion includes two new banks—Gyeongnam Bank and iM Bank—joining the original seven participants. Phase 1, which ran from April to June 2025, processed 114,880 transactions across 81,000 wallets, though only 42% of users spent tokens.

Phase 2 introduces biometric fingerprint payments, person-to-person wallet transfers, and government subsidy disbursements using programmable tokens. The central bank official stated the new phase will "lay the groundwork for commercialization," with the pilot running open-ended rather than on a fixed timeline.