South Korea to test tokenized government bonds with wholesale CBDC in 2027
South Korea plans to launch a pilot program for tokenized government bonds in 2027, linking them to the Bank of Korea’s (BOK) wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) system as the country moves ahead with its digital asset agenda.
The plan was included in the government’s 2026 Economic Growth Strategy for the Second Half, released Tuesday. Officials also said they will study how to connect the BOK’s permissioned CBDC network with public and private blockchains, paving the way for broader interoperability.
The pilot will explore whether the wholesale CBDC, designed for financial institutions, can support the issuance, settlement and trading of tokenized government bonds as part of South Korea’s capital markets infrastructure.
The government did not disclose which bonds would be included, the size of the trial, participating institutions or the blockchain technology to be used. It also did not specify whether the project will cover bond issuance, secondary-market trading or only settlement.
Part of a broader blockchain push
The proposal follows remarks by Bank of Korea Governor Hyun Song Shin at the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking on July 1, where he described government bonds as the ”big prize” for tokenization. Shin said tokenized bonds, wholesale CBDC and tokenized bank deposits could eventually operate on a shared ledger as part of the BOK’s Project Hangang.
The government said the bond pilot is part of a broader effort to build a ”blockchain economy.” In the second half of 2026, authorities plan to introduce policies supporting large-scale blockchain projects, digital asset infrastructure and related technologies.
The BOK has also cautioned that always-on settlement could speed up the spread of financial stress while introducing risks tied to smart contracts, liquidity and data oracles. It added that Project Hangang’s digital ledger and the country’s existing payment system are not yet connected in real time.
The pilot is expected to coincide with South Korea’s new token securities framework. Amendments recognizing distributed ledgers as official securities registries are set to take effect in February 2027, allowing the regulated issuance and trading of tokenized stocks, bonds and money market products.
Featured image from: cointelegraph.com