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- CBDC pilot program of Bank of Korea began late last month
- Samsung electronics with its affiliates will also join the program to help test the functionalities
- Consensys will be the leading technology partner of the BOK
- KPMG and Samsung SDS will offer advisory services to enterprises
- The pilot is in two phases, from July to December and January to June
CBDC, or the central bank’s digital currency, is something that has attracted central banks globally. Almost every country is looking to introduce its national digital currency. In the race, China is one of the nations ahead with its digital yuan project. Currently, South Korea is about to run its pilot program with a focus on remittances. Notably, it was recently revealed that Samsung Electronics would also be a part of the Bank of Korea’s CBDC pilot test. Hence, Samsung will take part to test the functionalities of the digital currency with its Galaxy smartphones.
Samsung confirms participation in CBDC test
Samsung Electronics will work together with the South Korean central bank in the CBDC trial. The global mobile phone manufacturer will provide its Galaxy series smartphones. Using the phones will test CBDC remittances to other phones, or different connected bank accounts will also be tested.
According to the report published by a local news outlet, the mobile phone creator is willing to check whether it’s possible to conduct payments through smartphones using cryptocurrency with no internet availability. The report mentioned that will it be possible to conduct payments via smartphones using digital assets without the internet. Hence, sending CBDC remittances to other devices or other bank accounts are the two core parts that the mobile phone manufacturer is looking at.
Samsung affiliates will also join
Samsung Electronics, Escor, and Samsung SDS will also take part in the pilot program. These such firms will also help test the functionality of the national digital currency to determine whether offline payments can be made easily.
Moreover, the S-Core will work on the issuance of a national cryptocurrency. Whereas, In comparison, Dream Security will focus on digital assets wallet. Simultaneously, KPMG and Samsung SDS will provide business advisory services.
Consensys is the lead technical partner
The pilot program has begun from the end of July 2021. Ground X, the subsidiary of Kakao, is co-managing the test by running on the public blockchain network Klaytn. In the current scenario, the Klaytn chain supports only 3k transactions per second. However, it is observed that the network will use scaling technology and boost the transaction speed to about 10k per sec. Hence, such scaling features will be provided by Onther, Consensys, and ZK crypto firms. Furthermore, Consensys is the leading technology partner with the Bank of Korea for the testing program.
BOK will test the national digital currency in two phases
The report by the local media outlet also shared that the pilot test has two phases. In contrast, the first phase will consist of running from this month till December. Ultimately, it will deduce the specific technological requirements. Such technologies include developing issuance and redemption of the crypto alongside private keys and wallets functions.
Indeed, the second phase will focus on real-time transactions and settlements. This phase will begin from January 2022 and continue till June 2022. The phase will also focus on privacy enhancement technologies, offline payments, virtual assets incorporation, and cross-border payments.
