Bank of Korea governor backs CBCCs, deposit tokens in first speech
Newly appointed Governor of the Bank of Korea, Hyun-Song Shin, has given his first public address on the central bank's support for digital currencies (CBCC) and deposits.
Shin, who began his four-year term after a graduation ceremony in Seoul on Tuesday, said the central bank will advance the second phase of “Project Hangang,” a pilot project led by the Bank of Korea, a blockchain-based wholesale CBCC system.
He also pointed to international cooperation efforts, including the Agora project, a global cooperation initiative launched in 2024 by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and seven central banks to calculate cross-border payments. Shin said these initiatives “raise the level of Korea's success in the digital payment environment.”
While earlier reports suggested Shin was open to winning stablecoins, he did not mention stablecoins in his opening speech.
South Korea's stablecoin account is stalled, divided over regulators and lawmakers over whether issuing winning tokens should be limited to commercial banks or opened up to non-bank players such as fintech and technology companies.
Related: South Korea bill puts stablecoin, RWAs under financial rules
Shin shows geopolitical risks
Shin also pointed to tensions in the Middle East and the impact on oil prices, saying the Bank of Korea must adapt to geopolitical shocks, inflation and changes in the global economy.
“We must strive for price and financial stability through careful and flexible monetary policy,” he said.
Shin was a BIS economic adviser from May 2014 to March 2026 and served as head of the Department of Finance and Economy since January 2025, according to the BIS website.
Last month, he published an academic paper stating that blockchain networks fail to fulfill the core property of stablecoins because they are inherently divided into different chains with different levels of payment, security and decentralization.
Related: Naver-Dunamu filing sets IPO committee, outlines timeline for fintech group
South Korea to test token deposits for government spending
South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance is preparing to test blockchain-based payments for selected government expenditures as part of a regulatory sandbox to explore distributed ledger technology in public finance.
The pilot will use tokenized deposits to operate, with a full rollout planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. The first phase begins in Sejong City and includes restrictions such as time and cost categories.
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