Bank of Korea Governor: "Risk of Stablecoins Denominated in KRW Replacing Legal Tender… Institutional Safeguards Needed"

Lee Chang-yong, Governor of the Bank of Korea, expressed the view that institutional safeguards are necessary regarding stablecoins, which have recently been attracting attention.

On the 12th, Governor Lee emphasized at the 75th anniversary ceremony of the Bank of Korea, held at the Bank’s annex on Namdaemun-ro in Seoul, that "Won-denominated stablecoins can contribute to innovation in the fintech industry, but there is also the risk of them replacing legal tender. Institutional safeguards must be put in place to ensure that KRW-based stablecoins possess stability and usefulness, while also preventing them from bypassing foreign exchange market regulations."

He also mentioned the deposit token-based digital currency project 'Han River' currently promoted by the Bank of Korea, as well as the cross-border remittance research project 'Agora.' Governor Lee explained, "Recently, we have been piloting and testing future digital currency infrastructure based on wholesale CBDC and deposit tokens in a real-world environment," adding, "At the end of this year, we plan to examine the actual benefits of deposit tokens through follow-up tests and decide whether to commercialize them."