[Earliest Launch in September: South Korea's Central Bank CBDC Pilot 'Han River Project' Phase Two to Conduct Real Transaction Testing] Odaily Planet Daily News: The second phase of South Korea's central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project, the 'Han River Project,' is about to 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 proceed as planned, real transactions are expected to begin as early as September. During the first phase of transaction testing conducted from April to June last year, 81,000 people participated via electronic wallets and completed 114,900 transactions using deposit tokens. The first phase primarily focused on evaluating the deposit token payment system, while the second phase will emphasize 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.