According to a report published on August 8 by The Korea Times, Korea’s central bank is testing
a digital currency using Galaxy smartphones from South Korean multinational tech giant
Samsung Electronics.
Back in May, the Bank of Korea announced that it would hold a bid to select its CBDC
technology supplier. The contract was awarded to Ground X, whose Klaytn platform will host the
CBDC, despite stiff competition. Ground X is a blockchain subsidiary of Kakao, a Korean
communications conglomerate.
CBDCs are digital currencies backed by central banks. A CBDC’s goal is to offer a digital
alternative to a country’s traditional fiat currency. Some are built on blockchains, while others
are simply “inspired” by them. Most countries are currently investigating CBDCs, most notably
South Korea’s rival China, which has been testing its digital yuan since last April.
The Bank of Korea’s pilot, which began on June 28 of this year, aims to test the feasibility of
digital payments using Galaxy phones.
According to an unnamed bank executive, the pilot programme aims to determine whether it is
“possible to conduct payments via mobile phones using the digital currency with no internet
availability, or to send CBDC remittances to other mobile phones or to other connected bank
accounts.”
The first phase of the pilot will last until December and will assess the technology’s suitability. In
phase two, which is scheduled to begin in January and continue into the following year, the
Bank of Korea will investigate the practicality of expanding the bank’s services to include
CBDCs.
If the pilot is successful, South Korea will be among the first to offer a CBDC alternative to
services such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, which enable contactless phone payments without
the need for an internet connection.
#Bitcoin #samsung #Cbdc #Wazirxwarriors
