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South Korea's newly appointed central bank governor has laid out a reform agenda with direct implications for the country's digital asset and tokenization landscape, positioning won internationalization and CBDC development as core priorities for his four-year term.
Shin Hyun-song, who began his tenure on April 21st, said the Bank of Korea would push to extend forex market hours to 24-hour operation and build an offshore won settlement system, in partnership with the government. The goal is to improve accessibility and stability in won-denominated transactions, boost the currency's international standing, and support both capital account liberalization and real-economy trade flows.
On digital currency infrastructure, Shin flagged Project Hangang Phase 2 — the Bank of Korea's CBDC initiative — as a vehicle to expand utility of the digital won alongside deposit tokens. He also referenced the Agora project, an international CBDC cooperation framework, signaling intent to strengthen the won's presence in cross-border digital payment environments. Together, won internationalization, payment innovation, and a macroprudential framework would form a "three-axis" synergy with the government, he said.
The speech addressed a wide range of structural headwinds: supply shocks from Middle East tensions, elevated inflation and growth uncertainty, financial market volatility, demographic decline, and property and household debt pressures. Shin described today's global order as undergoing a "great transformation" driven by geopolitical conflict and AI — with tariff-fuelled trade tensions reshaping supply chains and Middle East energy risks resurfacing.
He added that the central bank would deepen its financial stability work, expanding beyond traditional banking soundness indicators to incorporate market price signals for early warning, and extend surveillance to non-bank entities and off-balance-sheet activity.
For Korea's digital asset sector, the signals are clear: regulatory and infrastructure groundwork for a more internationally accessible won is being prioritized, while CBDC development continues at pace. How successfully the Bank of Korea coordinates these ambitions with the financial regulator and government will be the key question for market participants watching Korea's next moves in digital finance.
