According to a South Korean media site, the Bank of Korea has selected Jeju, Busan, and Incheon as potential locations for the "private target CBDC test bed" for the central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The bank intends to pick one of the areas for public testing of payments and distribution while also onboarding franchises that can take CBDC payments.
The issuance and distribution of the present local currency programme, which is in effect in some regions of South Korea and was implemented during the COVID-19 epidemic as a basic income and relief payment solution, will be comparable to the regional closed tests of the CBDC.
All three regions have their own local currency scheme, which has fewer "technical barriers" to overcome compared to CBDCs.
Since Jeju has a huge population, it was one of the choices for the pilot. Stablecoins are being investigated by numerous banks in South Korea as CBDC substitutes for efficiency reasons.
