Samsung Electronics Collaborates with Bank of Korea on CBDC Research

Samsung Electronics and the Bank of Korea announced on the 15th that they signed a business agreement for offline CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) technology research cooperation at Samsung Electronics' Suwon Digital City.

The signing ceremony was attended by Lee Seung-heon, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Korea, and Choi Won-jun, Vice President and Head of Development at Samsung Electronics MX Division. Through this agreement, both parties promised to continue research on the CBDC issued by the Bank of Korea and to cooperate in the offline payment sector.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Samsung Electronics participated in the second phase of the "CBDC Pilot Experiment Research" conducted by the Bank of Korea last year. They developed offline CBDC technology that enables remittance and payment between devices via near-field communication (NFC), even when both the sender's and receiver's devices are not connected to the internet network.

Remittance and payment are conducted within the security chipset (eSE, embedded Secure Element) embedded in Samsung Electronics' mobile devices. This chipset has obtained hardware certification at the EAL (Evaluation Assurance Level) 6+ grade under the Common Criteria (CC) international security evaluation standard, providing world-class security.

Based on this technology, the two parties plan to continue research to minimize security threats during offline payments using Samsung Electronics' Galaxy smartphones and watches, and to support stable payments even in disaster situations where the network is disconnected.

Central banks worldwide are showing great interest in CBDCs and are conducting research projects. Based on the results of their research cooperation, the two parties plan to continuously explore various cooperation methods to advance the CBDC ecosystem in the international community.

Lee Seung-heon, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Korea, said, "I consider it very meaningful to have developed the world's first offline CBDC technology together with Samsung Electronics," adding, "Through the signing of this MOU, I hope Korea will continue to lead the field of offline CBDC technology, which global central banks are actively researching."

Choi Won-jun, Vice President and Head of Development at Samsung Electronics MX Division, said, "Through collaboration with the Bank of Korea, we were able to apply Samsung Electronics' advanced security technology to the digital currency field," and added, "Based on the cooperation between the two companies, we expect to make a significant contribution to the development of offline CBDC technology globally, including in Korea."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.