Bank of Korea Sets Up Digital Currency Advisory Panel to Gather Views on CBDC, Deposit Tokens

The Bank of Korea has set up a separate advisory committee to gather external views on digital-currency policy, including central bank digital currency, or CBDC, and deposit tokens.

The Fact reported on October 1 that the BOK recently formed the Digital Currency Advisory Committee and held its first meeting on September 29. The move came about five months after the central bank's previous digital-currency advisory body, the Money & Banking Future Forum, ended its operations in April.

The BOK said it created the new panel to incorporate a broader range of views from outside experts and the market as its digital-currency projects gather pace. Those projects include Project Hangang, Project Agora, a cross-border payments experiment, and government bond tokenization.

Unlike the previous forum, the new advisory committee will focus exclusively on digital currency. While the Money & Banking Future Forum dealt with digital innovation more broadly, including artificial intelligence, the new panel will gather views on policies and projects related to digital currency, including CBDC and deposit tokens.

The BOK had previously ended the operation of the Money & Banking Future Forum and the appointments of its advisers in April to coincide with the expiration of former Governor Rhee Chang-yong's term.