Daiso, South Korea's leading discount retailer known for its 1,000-won price points, will participate in the Bank of Korea's second central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot program. The retailer's strong presence among millennial and Gen-Z consumers is expected to accelerate the collection of real-world usage data.
According to financial industry sources on the 22nd, Daiso is in discussions with IBK Industrial Bank of Korea regarding participation in "Project Hangang," the BOK's second-phase CBDC test. Under the project structure, the central bank issues CBDC to commercial banks, which then create deposit tokens for consumers to use at designated merchants. Unlike privately issued stablecoins, CBDC is issued directly by the central bank.
Consumers can obtain deposit tokens from any participating bank and use them at Daiso stores. The payment and settlement process is straightforward: when a customer requests payment, their bank deducts deposit tokens from the customer's wallet, and the BOK transfers the equivalent amount in CBDC to Daiso through a blockchain-based system.
The first phase of Project Hangang included offline retailers such as Kyobo Book Centre, 7-Eleven, Ediya Coffee, and Hanaro Mart, as well as online platforms including delivery app Ttangyeyo and Hyundai Home Shopping. Seven banks participated: KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NH Nonghyup, IBK Industrial Bank, and Busan Bank. Actual payments in the first test reached only 690 million won, representing 42.1% of total deposit tokens converted. Apart from Shinhan Bank's delivery app Ttangyeyo, which accounted for 46.2% of total usage, results were modest.
As a result, securing lifestyle-oriented platforms with broad consumer touchpoints has emerged as a key objective for the second phase. Industry observers expect Daiso's participation to enable accumulation of real-world data in a small-value, high-frequency payment environment and allow more precise analysis of deposit token flows.
"Daiso's participation is significant in terms of expanding deposit token acceptance points," a BOK official said. "In the long term, we aim to transition existing systems to blockchain infrastructure and establish a framework for using digital currency in interbank transactions."
A financial industry official noted, "CBDC experiments are necessary," but added, "coexistence with won-denominated stablecoins and bank-issued digital currencies backed by deposits will be required."
