If one thought that only China and Russia are the countries working on the CBDC project, then it would be a complete understatement. Ever since the beginning of 2020, several countries have expedited the development of the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

It may be true that China and Russia are currently taking the lead in the development and commercialization of CBDC. However, countries such as Georgia, Venezuela, Japan, India, Europe, and even South Korea are working on their own CBDC projects.

As the end of the year 2021 approaches, South Korea is also expediting the development of the CBDC. The government of South Korea had already worked on the development of the digital-won, with full support from the central bank of South Korea.

Just recently, the central bank of South Korea has provided updates on the development and testing of digital currency. The Bank of Korea (BOK) has announced that after finishing up with the development of the digital-won, it is ready for the testing phase.

The bank has announced that it has already begun the testing phase for the digital won (KRW), which is currently in its prototype stage.

The central bank of Korea has announced that the pilot for the CBDC will be carried out in two different stages. The central bank of Korea has announced that they want to ensure that the digital won is fully functional and without any flaws by the time it is launched.

This is the reason why the Bank of Korea would be carrying out the first pilot phase for digital won for almost 10 months. According to the BOK, the first phase will be starting from the next week, which would last until June of 2022.

Throughout the first phase of CBDC pilot testing, the tech utility and feasibility of the digital won will be assessed and fixed. This would ensure that the platform is fully capable of adopting all the updates and technological advancements introduced with the passage of time.

Following the completion of the first stage for the CBDC testing, the second phase will be initiated. In the second phase, the BOK plans on testing the cross-border remittances usability cases and the privacy-related issues for the CBDC.

This would ensure that the CBDC is fully secure and safe for the users to utilize on a day-to-day basis. The BOK has also revealed that throughout the testing period, it will have the support of Kakao, which is a tech giant. Furthermore, the BOK will also have the backing of Samsung, one of the largest tech giants in the entire world.

Throughout the testing phase, the BOK will have support from Samsung SDS and Samsung Electronics that are the subsidiaries/divisions for Samsung.