1.6 billion won invested 'integrated electronic wallet' project halted after two years

Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation is halting the 'integrated electronic wallet' that it had been developing with a budget of 1.6 billion won after two years.

According to the industry on the 23rd, the office of Rep. Jeong Tae-ho, the Democratic Party's secretary on the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee, disclosed materials it received from the corporation. According to those materials, the corporation developed in 2022 a blockchain-based app integrated electronic wallet to store digital assets at a cost of 550 million won.

The integrated electronic wallet project was pursued with the aim of creating a wallet to integrate blockchain-based central bank digital currency (CBDC), digital identification, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), among other things.

However, the CBDC component was halted before it could even be implemented.

The developed electronic wallet was used only for digital powers of attorney and the mobile certificate business, with operating costs of 500 million won and 600 million won, respectively.

Performance was poor. A total of 41 digital powers of attorney were issued over two years from 2022, and the mobile certificate business generated only 24 million won in revenue in its first year.

The corporation explained, "At the time, we pushed forward the project under conditions where the market for blockchain technology was not mature, but it was suspended due to a lack of business results," and added, "The Yoon Suk-yeol administration's insufficient recognition of the need for digital transformation led to inadequate will to pursue the policy."