韩国将测试用于政府支出的央行数字货币（CBDC）支持存款代币

South Korea approves a pilot project for public officials to use blockchain-based deposit tokens to pay government operating expenses

South Korea has approved a pilot plan that allows public officials to use blockchain-based deposit tokens to pay part of government operating expenses by scanning QR codes on smartphones, replacing traditional physical government cards.

Pilot mechanism and regulatory exemptions

According to the Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's Ministry of Science, Technology, Information and Communications officially approved the project at the 45th ICT Regulatory Sandbox Review Committee meeting (held on September 21) and announced the decision the next day. The "blockchain-based government fund execution project" is one of nine cases that received regulatory exemptions.

According to the current "National Treasury Fund Management Law", the payment methods for operating expenses of government agencies are strictly restricted and are mainly limited to tools such as government procurement cards and bank transfers. This regulatory sandbox exemption opens up a new path for digital currencies to be tested without changing the underlying laws. In the pilot, eligible officials will scan QR codes via smartphones and make payments using deposit tokens connected to the Bank of Korea's digital currency infrastructure.

Participation and functional characteristics of the six major banks

Six banks, including KB Minmin Bank, NH Agricultural Cooperative Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, Korea Industrial Bank and Asiana Bank, will participate in this government payment pilot. Under this model, participating public officials can use deposit tokens to pay specific expenses such as business promotion fees that would otherwise have to be settled through the entity's government card.

这些代币属于“汉江项目”（Project Hangang）的一部分，这是韩国央行推出的基于区块链的数字货币计划。在该体系中，消费者并非直接消费零售型央行数字货币（CBDC）。商业银行发行代表银行存款的存款代币，而韩国央行的批发型央行数字货币则用于金融机构之间的结算。

通过基于区块链的基础设施处理交易，使得支付与结算能够同步完成。此外，系统具备可编程控制功能：在交易发生前，可预先设定禁止购买的物品或业务类别，从而防止存款代币被用于受限制的购买行为。

提升透明度与降低成本

韩国科学技术信息通信部预计，由于支付记录通过基于区块链的系统进行处理，政府支出的可验证性将得到加强。官员们期望通过即时结算和降低手续费，减少收款小型企业的成本。

在此次引入政府支出领域之前，韩国已花费一年多时间测试底层技术。“汉江项目”第一阶段始于2025年4月，允许多达10万人使用由参与银行发行的存款代币。用户可通过银行应用程序将银行账户资金转换为代币，并在指定商户处进行二维码支付。

此前，“汉江项目”第二阶段于2026年3月启动，参与银行从七家扩展至九家。除原有的七家机构外，政府补贴支付成为新的实际应用场景，升级后的系统还引入了个人对钱包转账、生物识别支付审批以及自动充值等功能。

构建通用支付基础设施

随着韩国各机构构建支持存款代币的基础设施，政府支出测试正逐步融入现有的商业支付网络。7月，韩国科学技术信息通信部与韩国互联网与安全协会启动了一项价值96亿韩元的支付项目，旨在将“汉江项目”与商户和消费者已有的支付系统连接起来。

该项目由韩国金融电信清算院牵头，共有九家商业银行、八家支付公司和两家大型商户加入。该项目的设计初衷是不要求商户更换现有的支付终端，而是将存款代币交易与当前支付基础设施相连接。参与银行可提供代币钱包，而商户则继续通过店内已安装的系统处理交易。

降低小型商户的处理成本是该项目的重点考察领域之一。新的政府支出试点将在公共部门测试类似功能，即当符合条件的支付完成后，参与商户将立即收到资金。

央行数字货币的双层架构

The "Hanjiang Project" adopts a two-tiered structure that separates central bank settlement from the digital currency used by consumers and businesses for payments. The Bank of Korea provides a wholesale CBDC layer for transactions between financial institutions; commercial banks issue deposit tokens to customers. This means consumers retain claims related to their commercial bank deposits, rather than direct retail claims to the central bank.

The debate over CBDC, deposit tokens and privately issued stablecoins continues, and South Korean authorities have been emphasizing this distinction. Although the second phase of the "Hanjiang Project" increased the number of participating banks from seven to nine and expanded user functions, it still retained the wholesale CBDC and commercial bank deposit token model.

The infrastructure has been tested outside of domestic retail payments. In July, the Bank of Korea completed the tokenized reserve transfer test under the "Agorá Project" led by the Bank for International Settlements. One of the domestic transactions involved Agricultural Cooperative Bank and Shinhan Bank using tokenized central bank reserves to transfer 20 million won. The test manually connected the "Hanjiang Project" and "Agorá Project" environments to examine how domestic digital currency infrastructure interacts with cross-border settlement platforms.

In addition, KB National Bank also completed the deposit token payment test separately by conducting yen settlement transactions with Mitsubishi UFJ Bank of Japan.

Other Approved Digital Services

At its September 21 meeting, the ICT Regulatory Sandbox Review Committee approved several other projects in addition to approving the government deposit token pilot.

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另一项豁免涉及KT公司的电子文档服务。这家电信公司将获准通过其认证的电子文档递送服务直接向移动设备发送账单等文件，而无需依赖邮政投递。

此外，委员会将MediaScope的移动互联开放卡拉OK亭服务的监管状态从“监管豁免”改为“临时许可”。MediaScope在购物中心、电影院和交通枢纽等公共设施安装小型开放卡拉OK亭。该临时许可将使该服务在文化体育观光部审查相关法规变更期间继续运营。