Research on CBDC to Start Next Month
Ground X, a Kakao subsidiary in the blockchain industry, won the Bank of Korea's central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiment project by beating Naver and SK C&C.
Ground X and the central bank are going to initiate their research next month and the research will cover cross-border remittance and settlement as well as CBDC issuance and circulation. The 4.96 billion won project is scheduled to end in June next year.
Ground X participated in the bidding by forming a consortium with Kakao Bank, Kakao Pay, Samsung subsidiary S-Core, Ethereum infrastructure developer ConsenSys, etc.
The Bank of Korea is not ruling out the possibility of its CBDC issuance. "The issuance, if any, is likely to take a couple of years at the least,” Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol remarked on July 16. Ground X is expected to play an important role if the issuance is realized.