Samsung to research South Korea's CBDC for offline payments

Tech giant Samsung Electronics has reportedly partnered with the South Korean central bank to conduct research on central bank digital currency (CBDC) for offline payments.

On May 15, South Korea’s central bank — Bank of Korea (BOK) — and Samsung signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for research on offline CBDCs, according to local media KBS World. The collaboration will have both parties researching the offline capabilities of CBDC issued by South Korea’s central bank.

Samsung had also participated in the second phase of BOK’s 10-month CBDC simulation experiment research work, which dealt with retail CBDCs. The first stage of BOK’s CBDC research tested basic functions such as CBDC’s issuance, distribution, and redemption.

The latest MOU is aimed at testing the South Korean CBDC's potential to conduct remittance and payments using near-field communication (NFC) on Samsung mobile devices instead of the Internet. Samsung Electronics VP Won-joon Choi revealed that the collaboration allowed the tech giant to apply Samsung’s high-level security technology to the digital currency field. He added:

“Based on cooperation between the two companies, We expect to be able to make a great contribution to the development of global offline CBDC technology.”

As part of the collaboration, Samsung reportedly obtained hardware certification for the Security International Common Criteria CC (Common Criteria) ‘EAL (Evaluation Assurance Level) 6+ grade’.

Related: Korean blockchain experts seek the government’s help for digital asset market

Despite keen interest in CBDCs, Samsung recently banned employees from using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT on all Samsung-owned devices and internal networks.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, Samsung introduced the policy after a staff member uploaded a “sensitive code” to the platform. An internal memo addressing the matter read:

“HQ is reviewing security measures to create a secure environment for safely using generative AI to enhance employees’ productivity and efficiency.”

Other goliaths including JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have also restricted the use of generative AI tools.