Central Bank of South Korea begins development of pilot digital currency

South Korea’s central bank on Monday said it will choose a technology supplier to build a pilot platform for a digital currency, moving a step closer to creating a central bank-backed digital currency.

The Bank of Korea said it is seeking a partner through an open bidding process to research the practicalities of launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in a test environment – the first such exploratory step in Asia’s fourth largest economy.

The BOK’s efforts come as the spread of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has opened up the possibility that competitors of traditional cash could change how the financial sector operates.

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