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Bank of Korea

Institution · Central bank

The Bank of Korea is South Korea's central bank, gaining outsized relevance to APAC tokenisation readers in the April 2026 period because of the appointment of Hyun Song Shin as Governor. Hyun Song Shin had been Economic Adviser and Head of the BIS Monetary and Economic Department for over a decade, and his work has set much of the institutional-economics framing of stablecoins, tokenised deposits and unified-ledger architectures. The transition matters in two directions: it brings a globally-known monetary economist into the Korean policy chair just as Korea works through Phase 2 of its digital-asset framework (Digital Asset Basic Act including a stablecoin issuance regime), and it leaves the BIS Monetary and Economic Department under acting leadership pending Hélène Rey's start in September 2026. The immediate operational signal is the CBDC (central bank digital currency) programme's second phase, confirmed on 20 July 2026 to begin real-transaction testing in September 2026 with 9 banks issuing deposit tokens on Bank of Korea infrastructure, framed by a BOK official as laying the groundwork for commercialisation.

Role in tokenisation

  • Korean central bank, counterparty for any Korean stablecoin or tokenised deposit work that interacts with central-bank money.
  • Operator of the two-tier CBDC architecture entering real-transaction testing in September 2026: the central bank provides the institutional-CBDC infrastructure, and each participating bank issues and manages its own deposit tokens on top.
  • Champion of the "51 per cent rule" inside the Framework Act on Digital Assets (DABA) debate: the position that a won stablecoin must be issued through a bank-centred consortium holding a majority stake, on the grounds that non-bank issuance could cause monetary disruption.
  • Now under the leadership of one of the most-cited central-bank economists working on tokenisation and unified-ledger architecture.

Recent activity

  • 20 Jul 2026The Bank of Korea confirmed the second phase of its CBDC programme begins real-transaction testing in September 2026 with 9 participating banks, including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori plus regionals Gyeongnam Bank and iM Bank. A BOK official said the central bank will provide the infrastructure for the institutional CBDC while each bank conducts its own business using deposit tokens, and that phase 2 lays the groundwork for commercialisation. Neither this report nor the May coverage spells out how this phase relates to the Phase 2 of Project Han River launched in May 2026; the likelier read is one programme reported under two names, but the sources do not confirm it.
  • 20 Jul 2026The ruling Democratic Party and financial regulators committed to reintroducing DABA in September 2026 with fortnightly subcommittee reviews; the BoK-championed 51 per cent bank-consortium rule remains the stall point, and the accelerated pace is framed against the US GENIUS Act's January 2027 implementation.
  • 21 May 2026The Bank of Korea launched Phase 2 of Project Han River, advancing its tokenised-deposit pilot toward production readiness.
  • 16 Apr 2026BIS publishes statement on the appointment of Hyun Song Shin as Governor of the Bank of Korea (formal confirmation).
  • 22 Mar 2026BIS publishes statement on the nomination of Hyun Song Shin as Governor of the Bank of Korea. Mr Shin steps back from BIS duties with immediate effect; Frank Smets serves as Acting Head of the BIS Monetary and Economic Department.

Open questions

  • How the September 2026 phase 2 design handles interoperability between the 9 banks' separately issued deposit tokens, and who operates the exchange and settlement logic between them.
  • Whether and how Hyun Song Shin's prior framing of unified-ledger and tokenised-deposit architecture translates into Bank of Korea operational policy in his first six months.
  • Whether the 51 per cent bank-consortium rule survives the September 2026 DABA reintroduction, or non-bank issuers get a path; live legislative track per Stablecoin types.