In his maiden address, Bank of Korea's new Governor, Shin Hyun-song, underscored the importance of central bank-issued digital currencies and bank-backed tokens, surprisingly excluding stablecoins from his remarks as South Korea considers fresh cryptocurrency regulations. Shin, who commenced his term, highlighted the bank's ongoing participation in Project Hangang, a retail central bank digital currency and deposit token pilot, as well as its involvement in Project Agorá, a cross-border tokenization initiative led by the Bank for International Settlements. He positioned digital currencies as part of a broader central banking shift amidst economic challenges and slower domestic growth.
Notably, stablecoins were absent from his discussion, despite being a dominant topic in Seoul's policy debates, where lawmakers are discussing the Digital Asset Basic Act to establish rules for stablecoin issuance. Previously, Shin suggested that stablecoins could coexist with central bank digital currencies and deposit tokens in a competitive manner. His speech outlined a model where the central bank issues a digital currency, while commercial banks provide fully convertible deposit tokens. Furthermore, Shin announced plans to increase scrutiny of crypto markets and non-bank finance, expanding the central bank's monitoring of cryptocurrencies and seeking greater access to data to track financial risks.
He also pledged to modernize currency markets by introducing 24-hour foreign exchange trading and an offshore won settlement system.