South Korea successfully completes cross-border payment trial for Agora project

Project Agoura successfully completed cross-border payment testing, and Bank of Korea and a number of international partners jointly verified tokenized settlement technology. The test involved the use of tokenized reserves for settlement in six different global currencies, and participating financial institutions implemented 17 different payment scenarios, with a total amount of approximately 800,000 Swiss francs. Bank of Korea also successfully transferred 20 million won between two domestic banks through tokenized reserve infrastructure. KB National Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank of Japan completed a yen denominated deposit token transaction, marking an important milestone.

Tokenized infrastructure connects central bank currency

The Bank of Korea used tokenized central bank reserves in the test to verify multiple transaction models and confirm the operational stability of the platform. The comprehensive test connects domestic banking institutions with their counterparts in six different currencies around the world. The test phase brought together 28 central banks and financial organizations, with five major commercial banks in South Korea actively participating: KB Koommin Bank, Agricultural Cooperative Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank and Asiana Bank. Together, these participants executed transactions worth approximately CHF 800,000 in 17 different operating scenarios.

The testing framework covers single-currency transactions, multi-currency payments, foreign exchange settlement and intra-group fund transfers. Participants also implemented payment-to-payment settlement, a mechanism that reduces settlement risk by simultaneous currency conversions. These results verify Project Agoura's ability to handle complex cross-border banking operations in a near-production environment.

Central bank currencies are connected through tokenized infrastructure

The Bank of Korea conducted an inter-bank transfer test involving 20 million won, with Agricultural Cooperative Bank and Shinhan Bank as participants. The central bank issues, transfers and redeems tokenized reserves based on payment orders from two financial institutions. The deal verifies the integration path between central bank currency and tokenized commercial banking infrastructure. Throughout the testing process, authorities established a manual connection between the project Han River and the Bank of Korea's existing financial infrastructure. This integration allows central banks to assess interoperability between domestic payment networks and the broader Agoura ecosystem. In the future, South Korea plans to develop direct integration channels and implement a more simplified automatic settlement mechanism.

KB National Bank made a major breakthrough by completing a yen denominated deposit token transaction with Mitsubishi UFJ Bank of Japan. This achievement makes KB Minmin Bank the first Korean commercial bank to successfully perform such international payment tests. The bank is committed to participating in the subsequent development phases of project Agoura and expanding its cross-border token settlement capabilities.

The National Digital Payment Framework is based on Project Hanjiang

Project Hanjiang is a fundamental part of South Korea's comprehensive digital payment roadmap and wholesale central bank digital currency plan. The system supports the integration of deposit tokens with existing payment infrastructure, eliminating the need for merchants to upgrade their existing terminal equipment. Financial institutions can provide digital wallet services, while retailers maintain their existing point-of-sale systems. Public sector agencies are preparing to conduct government payment tests before integrating the framework with the country's digital financial infrastructure.

South Korean regulators clearly distinguish between deposit tokens and stablecoins, recognizing their different regulatory and financial frameworks. Deposit tokens represent commercial bank deposits and are based on the wholesale central bank structure. Regulation of stablecoins is independently advanced through the proposed Basic Law on Digital Assets. Financial regulators are consolidating multiple legislative proposals covering issuance standards, transaction agreements, disclosure requirements, governance frameworks and operational guarantees. At the same time, South Korea will advance the evaluation of project Agoura and introduce other test scenarios beyond the coverage of the current phase.