Samsung Becomes Latest Firm to Join Bank of Korea (BOK) CBDC Pilot Project
Tech giant Samsung has revealed that it will take part in the central bank digital currency pilot project by the Bank of Korea.
Samsung Joins BOK Digital Currency Pilot Project
This latest development was revealed by the local news outlet The Korea Times on August 12, 2021. Korea’s apex bank began trials for the digital won in July and tested the digital platform within a sandbox managed by Kakao subsidiary Ground X.
Samsung Electronics has decided to participate in the project and research the practicalities of the CBDC within a test environment.
The report further stated that the project would be focused on researching the efficiency and financial inclusion benefits of a CBDC. Specifically, Samsung and Kakao will launch a pilot program designed to track money transfers and remittances between countries. The program will also issue and distribute the digital currency and monitor how it works within the virtual test environment.
Samsung also intends to test the possibility of deploying blockchain-based systems on its popular Galaxy flagship mobile phones.
A Samsung executive further explained this by highlighting that the tech giant wants to conduct extensive tests using the Galaxy smartphone.
“Will it be possible to conduct payments via mobile phones using the digital currency with no internet availability, or to send CBDC remittances to other mobile phones or to other connected bank accounts, are the two core points that Samsung is looking at,” said the official.
The Korean CBDC is one of the major focuses of the BOK, and the first phase that started in July will run until December. The second phase, which will run from January to June 2022, will focus on real-time transactions and settlements.
CBDCs Continues to Dominate Global Finance
The global push by central banks to launch national digital currencies has hit its peak in recent months. Over 80 countries have expressed their intentions to launch digital currencies in recent months.
Africa appears to be catching up in recent weeks, with Nigeria and Ghana announcing concrete plans about their digital currencies.
In addition, BTCManager recently reported that Ghana had inked a partnership deal with Germanecke+Devrient to develop its digital currency.
It should be noted that central banks globally view CBDCs as a response to the growing threats of cryptocurrencies on international finance. It remains to be seen if they will be revolutionary or just glorified fiat currencies.
