What did the Bank of Korea and Bank of England discuss during their tokenization cooperation meeting?

Officials exchanged views on innovations in payment and settlement and shared updates on Project Agora and Project Hangang. The discussions involved Sarah Breeden, other BoE officials and BOK counterparts.

What is Project Agora and how could it affect cross-border payments?

Project Agora is a global initiative led by the Bank for International Settlements that explores combining tokenized commercial bank deposits with tokenized wholesale central bank money. Its purpose is to examine how these technologies could improve the global financial system, particularly cross-border payments.

What does South Korea’s Project Hangang test?

Project Hangang is a blockchain-based pilot led by the Bank of Korea that tests digital currency and wholesale central bank digital currency. The BOK is using the project to develop experience with tokenization and contribute to global discussions.

BOK, BoE expand cooperation on tokenization projects

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Summary

The Bank of Korea expanded cooperation with the Bank of England on tokenization projects in Seoul on Monday and Tuesday. Sarah Breeden, the BoE’s deputy governor for financial stability, and other BoE officials exchanged views with BOK officials on payment and settlement innovations. The central banks shared updates on Project Agora and South Korea’s Project Hangang, while the BOK pledged to share its experience and join global discussions.

Key Facts

Project Agora, led by the Bank for International Settlements, examines tokenized commercial bank deposits and tokenized wholesale central bank money for improving cross-border payments.
Project Hangang is a blockchain-based BOK pilot that tests digital currency and wholesale central bank digital currency.
Payment tokenization replaces sensitive payment data with a unique randomly generated string called a token.
Sarah Breeden serves as the Bank of England’s deputy governor for financial stability.

By Yonhap

Published Oct 20, 2026 12:15 pm KST

Bank of Korea headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Bank of Korea

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Tuesday it is expanding cooperation with the Bank of England (BoE) on tokenization projects.

Sarah Breeden, the BoE's deputy governor for financial stability, visited the BOK on Monday and exchanged views with BOK officials on innovations in payment and settlement, according to the BOK.

Breeden and other BoE officials shared updates on tokenization projects, including the global initiative Project Agora and South Korea's Project Hangang, with their BOK counterparts.

The BOK said it will actively share its experience with tokenization projects and participate in global discussions on the matter.

Payment tokenization is a security process that replaces sensitive payment data with a unique, randomly generated string of characters called a token.

Project Agora, led by the Bank for International Settlements, explores how tokenized commercial bank deposits and tokenized wholesale central bank money can improve the global financial system, particularly cross-border payments.

Project Hangang is a blockchain-based tokenization pilot project led by the BOK to test digital currency and wholesale central bank digital currency.

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