When President Trump signed the January 2025 Executive Order banning any federal agency from establishing, issuing, or promoting a central bank digital currency, the headlines focused on domestic politics. It was portrayed as a populist stand against financial surveillance, a rebuke to his predecessor’s flirtation with a “digital dollar.” But the order was more than a domestic policy stroke. It was an exportable design, a blueprint for allies uneasy with the costs, politics, and unintended consequences of central bank-issued digital cash.

South Korea is the first to follow the blueprint in full. The Bank of Korea (BOK) has shelved its second-phase CBDC pilot, known as “Project Han River.” The program was no small experiment—it had a ₩35 billion ($26 million) budget, involved commercial banks, and was meant to stress-test the infrastructure for large-scale, real-time settlement. Banks pushed back, citing prohibitive costs, thin commercial upside, and consumer indifference in a market already dominated by fast, cheap, private payment systems.

Instead of pushing ahead, Seoul pivoted to a regulated stablecoin framework. Under pending legislation—the Digital Asset Basic Act—licensed banks will be able to issue won-pegged stablecoins, with an eventual expansion to regulated non-bank issuers. The Financial Services Commission will oversee reserves, redemption........

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