South Korean Central Bank: Crypto And Blockchain To Provide Cash-Free Society

South Korea's central bank, the Bank of Korea, has recently announced it is considering cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications for its project for a "Cashless society," local news TokenPost reports May 1.South Korea's central bank says cryptocurrency and blockchain will allow societies to become coinless.

The South Korean gov't has been trying to get rid of coins for a long time, many methods have been suggested but it wants to go with cryptocurrency.

According to TokenPost, BOK announced the official launch of its cash-free society pilot in its "2017 Payment Report" yesterday.

The report mentioned that the bank has started exploring possible uses of blockchain and cryptocurrency, such as applying blockchains and passwords to payments.

The bank has also established an organization for researching digital currency and analyzing possible effects of cryptographic money on the overall financial system.

In 2016, South Korea reportedly spent KRW 53.7 bln on issuing physical currency.

According to KoreaTimes, the South Korean government began considering phasing out physical money in 2016, and planned to become a "Cash-free society" by 2020.

In April 2017, the BOK launched a coinless society trial, in which customers could deposit small change from transactions and put them on a prepaid or mobile card to use at convenience stores, discount stores, and department stores.

In January, inter-ministerial division on cryptocurrency policy confused the South Korean public when the Ministry of Justice independently declared it would ban cryptocurrency trading.

Last week, Cointelegraph reported that South Korea's largest crypto exchange Bithumb is pushing for the adoption of digital currencies in the country.