Toss Payments joins South Korea's deposit‑token payment pilot

Toss Payments was selected as a preferred negotiation partner for the South Korean government’s deposit‑token payment infrastructure expansion, a component of the “Blockchain Innovation Leading Project” led by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korean Internet & Security Agency (KISA). The pilot builds on the Bank of Korea’s “Project Han River” CBDC trial, aiming to enable merchants to accept digitised bank deposits (deposit tokens) through existing payment networks without changing hardware or software.

The consortium, overseen by the Financial Payments Service, includes nine banks, eight payment‑gateway firms and two large demand‑side partners. By using deposit tokens, settlement times could shrink from one‑to‑three days to near‑instant, lowering transaction fees and improving cash flow for small merchants. Toss Payments will develop the gateway that links the token network to merchants.

“Creating an environment where deposit tokens can be accepted by merchants without any change or burden is our focus,” said Lee Min‑woo, executive vice‑president of Toss Payments.