South Korea’s central bank has reportedly partnered with Samsung to research Central Bank Digital Currency [CBDC] for offline payments. According to KBS World and The Korea Herald, the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] at Samsung’s headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province on Monday, May 15. Commenting on the latest development, Bank of Korea Deputy Governor Lee Seung-heon said,
“It is meaningful that (the BOK) was the first to come up with the offline CBDC technology with Samsung Electronics. We hope that Korea can take the lead in offline CBDC technology through this memorandum, as central banks across the world are actively working on it.”
Also Read: Crypto.com Unveils Collaboration with Samsung
Samsung-BoK Tie-up to bolster the growth of global offline CBDC tech
Samsung also participated in the two-part mock testing of CBDC conducted by the Bank of Korea last year. It chalked out an offline CBDC technology that fostered transactions and payments between mobile devices via near-field communication without an online connection. That was done using Samsung’s security chip, called embedded Secure Element. Now, both parties will continue working towards allowing users to access payments via Samsung Galaxy smartphones and Galaxy Watch. They intend to do make the service available even in disaster situations when online networks cannot be accessed. Choi Won-joon, Executive Vice President and Head of the Mobile Research and Development office at Samsung’s Mobile Experience division, said,
“We were able to apply Samsung Electronics’ advanced security technology on digital currency through cooperation with the BOK. Through the two sides’ cooperation, we can attribute the growth of global offline CBDC technology.”
Samsung has also obtained hardware certification for the security international common criteria evaluation assurance level six grade. This includes seven levels of security functional requirements.
Also Read: Bank of Korea to be Granted Right to Investigate Crypto Businesses