South Korea to launch tokenized government bond pilot with CBDC in 2027

South Korea has incorporated a pilot program for tokenized government bonds into its official economic agenda, confirming plans to link these digital assets to the nation’s institutional central bank digital currency (CBDC) infrastructure by 2027.

Government unveils bond tokenization pilot

The government outlined this initiative in its latest 2026 Economic Growth Strategy for the Second Half, presented on Tuesday. The plan advances tokenized sovereign debt from conceptual discussions to an actionable step, including a specific timeline for deployment.

According to the strategy, authorities intend to assess how the Bank of Korea’s (BOK) CBDC infrastructure may operate alongside other blockchain networks. This could enable a connection between secure, permissioned systems of the central bank and external distributed ledgers across the broader digital asset ecosystem.

The pilot program’s main goal is to test whether South Korea’s wholesale CBDC, which is designed for institutional use, can underpin capital markets operations, going beyond simple digital payments. Specific details regarding which bonds will be included in the test, the participants, the scope, and blockchain technology choices have yet to be disclosed. The strategy also omits whether the test will involve the initial issuance, secondary trading, or only post-trade settlement of government bonds.

Project Hangang and vision for unified digital ledgers

The plan builds on remarks made by BOK Governor Hyun Song Shin at the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking, where he described government bonds as the major prize in the tokenization process. Shin suggested unifying tokenized bonds, central bank digital currencies, and commercial bank deposits onto a single ledger, as an extension of Project Hangang—an ongoing initiative by the Bank of Korea focused on digital financial infrastructure.

Mini dictionary: Project Hangang is a digital finance initiative led by the Bank of Korea, focused on exploring wholesale CBDC use and integrating blockchain-based infrastructures into mainstream payment and settlement systems.

Authorities have framed the bond pilot as one aspect of a larger push for a “blockchain economy.” In the second half of 2026, the government will introduce additional policies to foster blockchain demonstrations and support technology development within the digital asset sector.

The Bank of Korea has also highlighted operational risks. It stated that faster, continuous settlement enabled by digital ledgers could amplify market stress and introduce new vulnerabilities, such as those related to smart contracts, liquidity management, and external data oracles. Currently, Project Hangang’s digital ledger and the BOK’s payment systems do not interact in real time.

Legal changes and the future of tokenized assets

Alongside the pilot, the government plans legislative steps to regulate businesses operating in the blockchain and digital-asset industries, including provisions for stablecoins. These measures aim to establish a clear framework for market participants and to drive broader adoption of digital assets.

The bond project is scheduled to launch as South Korea’s token securities market opens under new regulations. From February 2027, amendments recognizing distributed ledgers as valid securities registries will come into effect, legally allowing the issuance and trading of tokenized securities such as stocks, bonds, and money-market products.

South Korea will begin piloting tokenized government bonds integrated with CBDC infrastructure in 2027, with broader legal changes to support the use and circulation of blockchain-based securities also scheduled for that year.