[Hankyung Essay] The World Changing with Digital Finance

Seo Jong-gun, Director of Busan Technology Startup Investment Foundation

Money is disappearing. Phones instead of wallets, numbers instead of banknotes, apps instead of counters fill our daily lives. The pace of change is breathless, but the essence remains the same. The history of finance is not only a history of technological advancement but also of changing modes of trust. There was a time when cash gave confidence through the touch of the hand, and cards were trust inside plastic. Now invisible data is taking the place of trust.

Blockchain is a technology that rewrites the language of trust. A structure that no one can manipulate and in which everyone records simultaneously. Bitcoin was born on that. A world without a center, an experiment in everyone becoming a bank. But it was not perfect. Prices fluctuated, and it was unstable under the weight of trust. So what emerged was the stablecoin, a stable digital currency.

On this wave of change, new challenges are arising in Busan as well. Busan, a hub of shipping and trade finance, is a city where capital and goods circulate. As South Korea's first blockchain regulatory-free zone and as a digital finance city, it continues experiments to extend modes of trust through technology. The Busan Digital Asset Exchange (BDX)'s 'Bdan' project is a new attempt to trade physical assets such as gold and raw materials on the blockchain. Because transaction processes are recorded transparently and are hard to falsify, Bdan demonstrates the possibility of 'trust proven by technology.' This trend is also spreading into citizens' daily lives. The local currency 'Dongbaekjeon' is another experiment that circulates trust within the region.

Artificial intelligence (AI) supports this change. AI detects abnormal transactions and simplifies complex financial procedures. AI is evolving beyond a calculation tool into an assistant that considers and executes people's financial behavior. AI combined with stablecoins automatically handles payments, investments, and risk management, opening an era of 'moving finance.' However, no matter how much technology advances, the essence does not change. We do not trust technology; we trust the people who made the technology. The real competitiveness of digital finance is not the code but the trust of the people behind that code.

This is also why Busan's experiment is special. The blockchain and AI trialed here are not merely industrial strategies but the city's attempt to 'translate trust into technology.' The Bdan project, Dongbaekjeon, and various AI-based financial experiments are not only changing the city with technology but a process of rebuilding finance with people's trust.

Now finance no longer stays behind the counters of financial companies. Data on screens becomes money, and algorithms replace trust. But the actors who set the direction of technology are still people. Busan's leap to become a digital finance city is not about changing the city with technology but a declaration to design the future with trust. And it is a bold challenge for Busan to directly prove that future of trust.