Bank of Korea Digital Won Pilot Expands to 9 Banks for Subsidy Token Trials
The Bank of Korea’s “Project Hangang” digital won pilot has expanded to nine major and regional banks, adding Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank. Phase two will move beyond earlier friction by testing real-world settlement use cases with digital deposit tokens.
Key trials include distributing up to 110 trillion won in government subsidies via digital won deposit tokens, evaluating payment fees, and running peer-to-peer wallet transfers. About 100,000 selected participants will take part, with live trials continuing through the first half of 2026.
The central bank is also factoring in uncertainty from South Korea’s Digital Asset Basic Act (DABA). It is accelerating a regulated, bank-issued wholesale CBDC token model as an alternative pathway versus private stablecoins, and it plans to explore future compatibility with AI agents that could use the digital won to execute purchases.
For crypto traders, this is a CBDC progress signal. It is unlikely to be a direct catalyst for major token prices, but it may shift market narratives around stablecoins, on-chain payments, and the regulatory acceptance of government-backed digital money.
Neutral
The expansion of the Bank of Korea digital won pilot is primarily about bank-led tokenized settlement and fiscal distribution efficiency. While it supports the broader “CBDC is moving forward” narrative, it does not signal immediate retail digital won availability or direct changes to major crypto token supply/demand.
In the short term, traders may see mild sentiment effects on stablecoin discourse because the central bank frames wholesale, bank-issued tokenization as a regulated alternative. In the long term, continued testing and possible AI-agent integration could reinforce expectations of government-backed digital money infrastructure—usually more of a narrative shift than a direct price driver for the major tokens themselves. Overall, the likely impact on the price of specific cryptocurrencies is limited, so the net effect is neutral.