Bank of Korea targets September start for Project Hangang phase two
The wholesale CBDC pilot expands to nine banks and adds P2P, biometrics, and subsidy-payment tests via deposit tokens.
The Bank of Korea is preparing a second phase of Project Hangang, its wholesale CBDC pilot, that could begin as early as September. The next stage expands the bank set and shifts the test toward consumer-facing payment features and government subsidy disbursements using tokenized bank deposits.
Key Takeaways
- Project Hangang’s second phase could start as early as September, with the exact year and date still not formally specified.
- Participation is set to expand to nine banks from seven, with Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank added to the group.
- The pilot uses a central-bank-issued wholesale CBDC as the settlement asset while consumers transact with commercial-bank deposit tokens.
- Phase one (April–June 2025) logged about 81,000 participants and 114,880 deposit-token transactions, creating a baseline for phase two.
Bank of Korea Eyes September for Project Hangang Phase Two Expansion
The Bank of Korea is lining up phase two of Project Hangang, a wholesale central bank digital currency pilot, for an as-early-as-September launch window. The program is slated to broaden from seven participating banks to nine, adding regional lenders Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank.
For market participants tracking Asia’s tokenization stack, the headline is not “retail CBDC.” The structure keeps the consumer instrument bank-issued while the central bank provides the settlement layer. That design choice matters because it tests whether tokenized deposits can scale without forcing a direct central-bank liability into everyday wallets.
From Infrastructure Test to Commercialization: P2P, Biometrics, and Automated Deposit Tokens
Phase one was framed as a payments infrastructure test. Phase two is explicitly framed as a commercialization exploration, with new consumer-facing functionality: peer-to-peer transfers, biometric authentication, and new automated deposit-token features.
That shift in scope is the signal. Adding P2P and biometrics pushes the pilot closer to real usage patterns, where onboarding friction and authorization flow often decide whether a payment rail gets adopted. “Automated” deposit-token functions are still undefined in the available details, but the direction is clear: the pilot is moving from plumbing validation toward product behavior.
Subsidy Disbursements via Tokenized Bank Deposits: The New Use Case in Phase Two
The new use case in phase two is a test of government subsidy disbursements through tokenized bank deposits. In practice, that is a distribution-flow experiment, not just a payments demo. Subsidies create predictable bursts of volume and a clear reconciliation trail, which makes them a useful stress test for settlement finality and operational controls.
The mechanics are still thin. The available information does not specify the program size, who qualifies, which rails are used at the consumer edge, or whether the trial is limited to certain regions or banks. Those missing pieces will determine whether this is a contained proof-of-concept or a meaningful throughput and compliance exercise.
Confirmations Traders Need: Start Date, Full Bank List, and Subsidy Program Details
Near-term sensitivity sits around confirmations that convert “as early as September” into an actual start date, and clarity on whether “September” refers to 2026 or another year. Without that, the market is left trading a window rather than a schedule.
Traders also need the full list of the nine participating banks beyond Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank. The composition matters because deposit-token pilots are distribution games. The banks involved determine potential user reach, merchant coverage, and the operational appetite to push a new payment instrument.
The subsidy-disbursement pilot is the other key unknown. Details that would move this from narrative to measurable include program size, eligibility rules, which banks or regions are included, and how settlement and redemption are handled. Finally, any disclosed results framework for phase two, such as targets or a reporting cadence, would let the market benchmark progress against phase one’s 81,000 participants and 114,880 transactions.
Why a Wholesale-CBDC Settlement Layer Matters for Asia’s Tokenized Deposit Narrative
I treat this as a structure story more than a headline story. The design keeps consumers on commercial-bank deposit tokens while using a central-bank-issued wholesale CBDC as the settlement asset, which is a clean way to test onchain settlement without forcing a retail CBDC rollout.
The threshold that matters is whether phase two’s expanded bank set and new features translate into usage that clears phase one’s baseline, and whether the subsidy trial comes with enough scale and disclosure to be judged like a real distribution rail rather than a lab demo. If those two pieces land, the setup starts to look structural rather than narrative-driven.
