South Korea Launches Deposit Token Payment Infrastructure Project to Expand CBDC Technology to Private Sector

South Korea's KISA and Ministry of Science and ICT launched a 9.6 billion KRW (~$6.49 million USD) project on July 22, 2026, to expand the Bank of Korea's 'Project Hangang' CBDC technology into the private sector. Led by the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute, the initiative aims to build a deposit token-based payment infrastructure, bridging the gap between central bank digital currency pilots and commercial payment systems.

Deposit token payment infrastructure

• ▪The Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute leads the 9.6 billion KRW project consortium, which includes nine commercial banks, eight payment gateways, and two large demand-side entities.
• ▪The deposit token payment infrastructure will utilize existing offline terminals and online payment networks, allowing users to pay via bank e-wallet applications.
• ▪On July 22, 2026, the Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Ministry of Science and ICT launched the Deposit Token-Based Payment Infrastructure Expansion Project.

Project Hangang private sector expansion

• ▪The Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute will link existing payment infrastructure with the Bank of Korea's Project Hangang system to enable deposit token payments.
• ▪The Deposit Token-Based Payment Infrastructure Expansion Project aims to expand the Bank of Korea's institutional central bank digital currency pilot, Project Hangang, into private payment services.

Small merchant fee reduction

• ▪The Deposit Token-Based Payment Infrastructure Expansion Project was selected as a Blockchain Innovation Leading Project with the goal of reducing payment fee burdens for small merchants.
• ▪The South Korean government expects the deposit token-based payment and settlement system to improve settlement speed and efficiency while reducing payment fees for small and medium-sized merchants.

Public finance blockchain applications

• ▪The South Korean government plans to apply deposit tokens to a pilot project for business promotion expenses and establish a national treasury management model linked with the dBrain system.
• ▪The South Korean government plans to expand the use of deposit tokens to various public financial execution fields to manage public funds.

Government budget transparency systems

• ▪The blockchain-based system will transparently manage the execution process of government budgets to prevent the unauthorized or fraudulent use of public funds.
• ▪The South Korean government will use blockchain technology to set specific usage conditions matching policy purposes for public funds.

Blockchain ecosystem development support

• ▪The Ministry of Science and ICT will allocate approximately 3 billion KRW of the project's 9.6 billion KRW budget to development, operation, and promotion tasks involving small and medium-sized enterprises, startups, and information technology companies.
• ▪Participating commercial banks in the deposit token project will separately invest approximately 4.5 billion KRW in linked projects to support the blockchain ecosystem.

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