The Central bank in Korea launches CBDC pilot program for when the need arises…

• It was announced earlier this week by the bank of Korea on the 6th of April that the financial institution had launched a pilot program to assess the logistics of a CBDC. 
• Even though the bank hasn’t got any immediate plans to introduce such a currency, the project will help ensure it is prepared when the need arises.

It was announced earlier this week by the bank of Korea on the 6th of April that the financial institution had just launched a pilot program in order to assess the logistics of issuing a central bank digital currency, otherwise known as a CBDC. 

Even though the central bank in the nation hasn’t got any immediate plans to introduce such a government-controlled currency, the pilot project will help ensure that it is prepared to do so when the need arises. And given the constantly changing market conditions over the course of 2020, it could be needed at any moment.

Theoretical research was conducted earlier this year in February. After this theoretical research was conducted, the pilot will comprise a technological and legal view of issuance for CBDCs. It was started in March and is scheduled to run all the way until December 2021.

The first phase is to define the requirements and design of central-bank digital currencies. It will run for five months until July this year which will overlap a review of the technology required to implement the currency.

Despite this exciting development, the announcement made it very clear that the bank isn’t making any promises for it to be released in South Korea just yet. It simply wants to be prepared in case it is needed in the future.

"The need to issue a CBDC in the near future still remains slim when considering the demand for cash that still exists, the competitive payment service market and high-level financial inclusion, but there is a need to be able to quickly take steps in case market conditions at home and abroad change rapidly."

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. For more news on this and other crypto updates, keep it with CryptoDaily!