Key Takeaways:
Hyun Song Shin wants to put tokenized government bonds, wholesale CBDC, and commercial bank deposits on a single digital ledger.
Bank of Korea Governor Hyun Song Shin called for tokenizing government bonds and bringing them onto a unified ledger with wholesale central bank digital currencies, arguing the technology would simplify issuance and reduce settlement risk.
"The big prize is tokenizing government bonds," Shin said during a panel discussion at the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal. "It's much easier, much less prone to mistakes if you have everything tokenized."
Shin outlined plans to extend "Project Hangang," the Bank of Korea's blockchain-based wholesale CBDC pilot, to include tokenized government bonds and tokenized commercial bank deposits on a single integrated ledger. The second phase of Project Hangang, involving nine commercial banks, is set to proceed in the second half of this year, with programmable fiscal expenditures for electric vehicle charging subsidies as the first test case. A July 2025 report by the Bank for International Settlements, where Shin previously served as head of the Monetary and Economic Department, examined 39 tokenized bonds and found "suggestive evidence" of lower bid-ask spreads with comparable issuance costs and yields.
US Treasury debt is already the largest tokenized real-world asset category at $14.6 billion, representing about 46 percent of the $31.7 billion RWA market, according to data provider RWA.xyz. If implemented, South Korea's unified ledger model could serve as a blueprint for other central banks exploring how distributed ledger technology can modernize sovereign debt markets and monetary policy operations.
Shin's Shift on Stablecoins
Shin also used the ECB forum to reiterate his concerns about private stablecoins, warning that their value fluctuates when issuer credibility is shaken. He proposed a two-tier digital currency system where central banks and commercial banks jointly participate around a digital integrated ledger, arguing that "money gains power only when everyone uses it together." This marks a return to his earlier skeptical stance after briefly softening his position during his April confirmation hearing, when he suggested CBDCs and stablecoins could coexist.
Project Hangang's Next Phase
The second phase of Project Hangang will test programmable money for government fiscal expenditures, with subsidies for electric vehicle charging infrastructure and public sector operational funds as the first use cases. Yoon Seong-gwan, head of the Bank of Korea's Digital Currency Office, said the project is "the world's first case of implementing an integrated ledger involving a central bank in real transactions." By embedding transaction conditions directly into digital money, the system aims to prevent misuse of national funds and reduce resources spent on post-hoc audits.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
