BOK Creates Asset Tokenization Unit to Prepare Pilot for Tokenized Government Bonds

The Bank of Korea has created a new Asset Tokenization Team under its Digital Currency Office as it prepares a pilot program for tokenized government bonds.

Edaily reported on August 5 that the BOK set up the new unit in an organizational reshuffle carried out last week alongside its regular second-half personnel changes. The team will oversee a pilot project to tokenize government bonds in connection with central bank digital currency, or CBDC, infrastructure.

The BOK has been conducting experiments through Project Hangang to implement central bank money and bank deposits in the form of deposit tokens. The creation of the new team expands that effort into asset tokenization, including the issuance and distribution of real-world assets such as government bonds in digital token form.

The Asset Tokenization Team will work on building a Unified Ledger framework that handles deposit tokens, central bank money and asset tokens on a single platform. In that structure, deposit tokens and asset tokens are managed on the same ledger based on central bank money, allowing remittances, clearing and settlement to be processed in a single workflow.

In the latest reorganization, the North Korean Economy Research Office under the BOK's Economic Research Institute was also renamed the Economic Security Office. The move reflects the rising prominence of economic security issues as trade, resources and technology become more closely tied to national security.

Separately, the BOK recently created a director-level strategic meeting to address agenda items related to the Bank for International Settlements. It is also discussing ways to build future financial infrastructure, including deposit tokens and tokenized government bonds, the report said.