South Korea Launches CBDC Trial: 7-11 Accepts Digital Korean Won with "10% Discount on All Products", in Partnership with Seven Major Local Banks

According to local South Korean media “Enewstoday” reported on April 1, convenience store giant 7-Eleven recently announced that all of its stores in South Korea will cooperate with the Bank of Korea (BOK) to test the use of central bank digital currency (CBDC) from April 1 until June 30. (Synopsis: South Korea 2024 invites “100,000 nationals” to test CBDC and shop in digital won) (Background added: South Korean CBDC is coming? The central bank payment process includes “digital currency, stablecoin”) According to South Korean local media “Enewstoday” reported on April 1, convenience store giant 7-Eleven recently announced that all its stores in South Korea will cooperate with the Bank of Korea (BOK) to test the use of central bank digital currency (CBDC) from April 1 until June 30. 7-Eleven offers 10% discount on all items The trial is part of the so-called “Han River Plan”, which unites 7 banks in South Korea, including Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, KEB Hana, Industrial Bank (IBK), Nonghyup and Busan Bank, and users can simply tap on the e-wallets of these banks on their mobile phones after purchasing products at 7-Eleven. Present the payment code to pay digital won. According to official instructions, the digital won trial is limited to 100,000 people, but 7-Eleven will offer a 10% discount on goods to all consumers who pay with digital won to encourage consumers to participate. In response, Moon Dae-woo, Head of Digital Innovation at 7-Eleven, said: "We are working hard to use the next generation of digital technology to run our stores more efficiently. Joining the digital fiat pilot allows us to accelerate our digital transformation initiatives. South Korea actively promotes the CBDC process The Bank of Korea first proposed its CBDC pilot plan in 2020 to evaluate design, technology, and regulatory requirements, and officially began a two-phase digital won experiment in August of the following year, hoping to respond as soon as possible in the face of CBDC threats from China, Japan and other countries. The trial, which unites 7-Eleven to go to war with multiple banks, is the latest development presented by the Bank of Korea after it unveiled its initial plan to test the central bank’s digital currency in October 2022, which was originally scheduled to start at the end of 2024 but was not officially launched until this month. After the launch of this trial, the Bank of Korea has not yet announced the next CBDC plan, and what kind of results the CBDC will achieve in the future deserves our continued attention. Related reports Bank of Korea completes CBDC, NFT transaction test: centralized ledger scalability is better than cryptocurrency The Bank of Korea announced the establishment of the “central bank digital currency” legal advisory group, and President Lee Joo Yeol delivered a 70th anniversary speech on CBDC strategy to counter China and Japan! The Bank of Korea announced the launch of the “Central Bank Digital Currency CBDC” pilot program in 2021 (South Korea launches CBDC trial: 7-11 accepts digital won plus “10% discount on all goods”, unites seven local banks) This article was first published in BlockTempo “Dynamic Trend - The Most Influential Blockchain News Media”.