# Bank of Korea Readies Live Central-Bank Digital Currency Test as Private Firms Push a Won Stablecoin

Nine commercial banks will trade tokenized won in September, even as HashKey, Kbank and BPMG sign an accord to build a won stablecoin for cross-border settlement.

- Published: 2026-07-21T05:29:38.700Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/crypto/2026-07-21/bank-of-korea-readies-live-central-bank-digital-currency-tes
- Publisher: Polylog (Crypto desk)
- Section: macro
- Sources: [CoinDesk (Bank of Korea CBDC)](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/07/20/bank-of-korea-prepares-for-live-cbdc-transactions-with-nine-banks-in-september), [crypto.news (HashKey won stablecoin)](https://crypto.news/hashkey-taps-kbank-bpmg-in-south-korea-stablecoin-payments-push/)

South Korea is advancing public and private digital-money projects in parallel, a contrast that captures the wider tension between central banks and stablecoin issuers. The Bank of Korea is preparing live central-bank digital currency trans…

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