Bank⁤ of Korea Joins Agora Project to Enhance Cross-Border‌ Payments

The Bank of Korea has announced ⁤its participation in the Agora project, a collaborative effort with six⁤ major ​banks, including Kookmin, Enterprise, Nonghyup, Shinhan, Woori, and⁤ Hana.

The Agora project aims to explore the feasibility of improving cross-border payment issues by converting bank deposits⁢ and institutional central bank money​ into digital money, also known as tokenization.

Currently, overseas payments are often criticized for being expensive and slow due to differences ⁣in laws and regulations, technical compliance requirements, and standard​ time​ zones between countries. The Agora project seeks to address these issues using blockchain technology.

The project ⁣involves‍ central⁣ banks and private⁢ institutions from seven countries, including the five major ​reserve currency countries (USA, France, UK, Japan,⁣ and Switzerland), Korea, and Mexico.

Through this project, the Bank of ​Korea and the‍ six participating‌ banks will study⁣ the integration and‍ use of tokenized deposits and⁣ tokenized central bank money⁢ in a financial platform jointly operated by the public and private sectors.

The study will examine⁤ the‌ feasibility of a two-tier​ structure, where⁢ the six banks accept deposits from customers and the⁤ central bank provides ‌reserves for deposit withdrawals and interbank fund ⁢transfers.

Additionally, the project will explore the use of smart ⁣contract⁢ programming, which​ enables the automation of⁤ trade goods and payment transactions using​ tokens and GPS technology.

Smart contracts have the potential ⁢to streamline international trade by ⁢programming tokens to trigger payments and transactions when certain conditions are met.