[South Korea's Central Bank Digital Won Pilot Enters Phase Two, Two Additional Banks Join Field Testing] Odaily Planet Daily reports that the South Korean central bank has announced the launch of the second phase of the Digital Won pilot in collaboration with nine commercial banks. The pilot will test the application of deposit-type tokens issued by banks and supported by the central bank in real-world scenarios, including government subsidy distribution and peer-to-peer payments. The two newly participating banks are Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank, joining the original seven banks to conduct large-scale testing together. Kim Dong-sub, head of the Digital Currency Planning Team at the Bank of Korea, stated that the pilot will focus on merchants and businesses with high public relevance and high payment fees, exploring the potential of using digital currency payments to significantly reduce transaction costs. Phase 2 testing will also support peer-to-peer transfers that were difficult to achieve in the previous phase. Additionally, the Bank of Korea plans to begin distributing government subsidies via digital currency in the first half of this year, with initial application scenarios potentially including subsidies for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The central bank is also exploring the use of AI agent systems (AI agents) to purchase goods and services using the Digital Won. The launch of this pilot coincides with delays in South Korea's "Digital Asset Basic Act" (DABA) due to disagreements among regulatory agencies over stablecoin issuance authority, particularly regarding who has the right to issue stablecoins pegged to the Korean Won. (CoinDesk)