Hangang 2: South Korea's Banks Get CBDC-Laced Deposit Tokens, No Retail Launch Yet 🚰

South Korea's Project Hangang is moving into a second phase that links the Bank of Korea's wholesale central bank digital currency to commercial bank infrastructure, according to a report from ETNews Korean Edition. Under the updated plan, participating banks will issue deposit tokens backed by the central bank's CBDC, which customers would access through e-wallets embedded in their existing banking apps rather than holding the digital currency directly.

The new stage expands on the first phase, in which the Bank of Korea supplied wholesale CBDCs to participating banks, which in turn distributed deposit tokens through bank-issued e-wallets for limited payment trials. Phase 2 tasks commercial banks with building the technical links between tokenized deposits and core banking functions, including accounting, interest calculations, transfers, withdrawals and digital voucher systems, alongside blockchain-based platforms integrated with mobile and online banking.

A financial industry official said, "Phase 2 of Project Hangang is a stage that connects digital currency with bank account systems, mobile banking, electronic wallets, and treasury operations." The framework is designed to make digital currency behave more like traditional bank money while remaining inside a regulated pilot environment, and it does not constitute a national CBDC rollout. Testing is limited to specified participants and locations and is intended to lay the groundwork for broader adoption at a later stage.

The development comes as South Korea weighs corporate crypto rules that could exclude dollar-based stablecoins, specifically naming Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC. Separately, Tether has filed seven trademark applications through South Korea's KIPRIS database.