Altcoins News
By Maheen Hernandez
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How the RFI-K Accounts Actually Work. Foreign investors won't need to open direct accounts with South Korean financial institutions to…
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Project Agorá and Project Hangang Push Further. The 24-hour network isn't the only thing the BOK is cooking.
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What Full Operations in 2027 Actually Means. January 2027 is the target for full operations on the settlement network.
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South Korea's central bank just flipped the switch. The Bank of Korea launched a 24-hour won settlement pilot on Monday, letting foreign investors move money in Korean won…
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Four domestic banks are in the room: KB Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, Hana Bank, and Shinhan Bank. All four are now running trial operations on the new international wire network.
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The network runs continuously, minus weekends and public holidays.
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That's the pitch, anyway. Whether foreign institutions actually rush to set up those accounts is unclear yet.
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The core goal, per the central bank, is to strengthen the won's international presence. Won settlement has long been constrained by time zone friction — South Korea's banking…
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The 24-hour network isn't the only thing the BOK is cooking. Two separate tokenized settlement projects are already in motion, and they're probably more radical than the wire…
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Project Agorá wrapped up real-value cross-border payment trials in July. The project, which the BOK ran alongside the Bank for International Settlements, used tokenized central…
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Project Hangang is still underway. It's focused on a wholesale central bank digital currency — a blockchain-based CBDC — designed to settle tokenized commercial bank deposits.
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The two projects aren't directly linked to the 24-hour wire network, but they're clearly part of the same broader push.
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No timeline has been given for Project Hangang's next phase. The BOK hasn't said when — or whether — it plans to take either tokenized project beyond the pilot stage.
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January 2027 is the target for full operations on the settlement network. Between now and then, the central bank says it plans to expand participation beyond the current four…
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It's worth noting that the four banks already in the pilot aren't small players. KB Kookmin, Woori, Hana, and Shinhan are among South Korea's largest financial institutions.
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