What happened
- Specific facts/numbers: The Bank of Korea has created a dedicated asset-tokenization unit within its Digital Currency Office, according to the accessible report text; the reported focus is tokenizing Korean government bonds on the same unified-ledger infrastructure used for wholesale CBDC and tokenized deposits in Project Hangang.
- Institutions involved: Bank of Korea, its Digital Currency Office, and Project Hangang are central to the story; Ledger Insights says the move was reported by Korean outlet E-Daily.
- Regulatory/technical context: The Bank of Korea has separately published work on Project Hangang as a live pilot of a unified ledger integrating wholesale CBDC and tokenized deposits, and a recent BOK paper discusses asset tokenization including government bonds as part of broader market development and experimentation.
- What to watch next: Watch for an official Bank of Korea announcement or pilot design on tokenized government bonds using the unified ledger; no specific next milestone was identified in the read material.
Why it matters
A central bank-backed push to put government bonds on the same ledger as wholesale CBDC and tokenized deposits could shape how settlement, collateral movement, and programmable securities evolve in Korea’s financial market.
HKMA Relevance
Indirect: Korea’s work on unified-ledger settlement and tokenized deposits is relevant to regional central-bank experimentation that could inform Hong Kong’s own tokenization and wholesale-CBDC thinking.