[South Korea's Central Bank CBDC Pilot 'Han River Project' Phase 2 Expected to Launch as Early as September] According to Yonhap News Agency, the second phase of South Korea's central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project, the 'Han River Project,' is about to officially commence. The Bank of Korea and commercial banks are making final preparations for real transaction testing of deposit tokens in the second phase. If system development and participant recruitment are completed as planned, actual transactions are expected to begin as early as September. During the first phase of transaction testing from April to June last year, 81,000 people participated via electronic wallets, conducting 114,880 transactions using deposit tokens. The first phase examined the deposit token payment system, while the second phase focuses on exploring commercialization. Additionally, in the economic growth strategy for the second half of the year released on the 15th, South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance announced plans to launch a pilot project next year for tokenizing government bonds linked to the institutional-level CBDC of the Bank of Korea.