The Bank of Korea has successfully completed live cross-border payment tests using tokenized central bank reserves under the Bank for International Settlements-led Project Agora. The tests, which involved 27 other central banks and private financial institutions, processed transactions across six currencies and multiple payment scenarios. According to the Bank of Korea, the exercise covered the Korean won, U.S. dollar, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, and Japanese yen, with participating institutions processing transactions worth about 800,000 Swiss francs across 17 payment scenarios.
Test Details
The Bank of Korea worked with NongHyup Bank and Shinhan Bank to transfer 20 million won between the two lenders using tokenized reserve funds. The process also included a manual connection between Project Hangang, the Bank of Korea’s wholesale central bank digital currency platform, and the central bank’s existing financial network to validate interoperability during the transaction.
Future Plans
The Bank of Korea said additional live transaction tests would follow as the project expands to cover payment types and operational scenarios that were not included in the latest exercise. The latest cross-border testing builds on South Korea’s efforts to extend Project Hangang beyond institutional pilots and into commercial payment infrastructure.
