South Korea is preparing to launch the second phase of its central bank digital currency pilot, known as the "Han River" project, according to Yonhap News Agency as cited by ChainCatcher. The Bank of Korea and commercial banks are making final preparations for a new round of real transaction testing involving deposit tokens. If system development and participant recruitment stay on schedule, live transactions could begin as early as September. The first phase, which ran from April to June last year, involved 81,000 participants using e-wallets and recorded 114,880 deposit-token transactions. That initial round focused on testing the deposit-token payment system, while the second phase is set to examine commercialization. Separately, South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance said in an economic growth strategy released on the 15th that it plans to roll out a pilot next year for tokenized government bonds linked to the Bank of Korea's wholesale CBDC.

Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, or CCIP, has been adopted in central bank-related projects tied to Brazil, Hong Kong, Australia, the UK, and mBridge, according to Techub, citing CryptoBriefing. The protocol is being used for data exchange involving central bank digital currencies and for cross-border settlement of tokenized assets. The report said the network has already enabled automated payments in a cross-border trade settlement pilot linked to Brazil’s central bank Drex project and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s e-HKD initiative. It also said Chainlink worked with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, or ANZ, to complete a cross-chain atomic settlement involving stablecoins. Separately, the Bank of England selected the technology in February 2026 for securities atomic settlement testing. The mBridge project has also adopted the solution to address interoperability challenges across multiple currencies. The report centers on infrastructure use cases, with the cited deployments spanning CBDC connectivity, settlement automation, and multi-currency coordination.

South Korea is testing blockchain-based tokenized government bonds through a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, pilot, according to Techub News, citing Cointelegraph. The trial is described as an important real-world asset, or RWA, tokenization exercise on-chain. Its stated aim is to examine how distributed ledger technology can be used to issue and trade government debt instruments. The pilot also focuses on linking traditional finance infrastructure with crypto-native rails. No further details on the scale, timeline, or participating institutions were disclosed in the source brief.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission approved five innovative financial services on July 15, with the Bank of Korea-led CBDC sandbox project, Project Hangang, moving into phase 2. The expansion raises participating banks from seven to nine and increases wallet capacity from 10,000 accounts to 500,000. The second phase also adds remittance functions, automatic conversion between deposit tokens and bank accounts, and biometric authentication. Individual holding limits were lifted to 10 million won per wallet and 100 million won in cumulative holdings. The FSC also revised seven existing services, bringing the cumulative number of designated innovative financial services to 1,111. According to ABMedia, the move gives the Bank of Korea a practical way to advance its bank-led CBDC approach through the regulatory sandbox while the Digital Asset Basic Act remains stalled in the National Assembly. The same approval round also included services for foreign travelers and a joint lending product from Kakao Bank and Busan Bank.

Odaily’s July 11 midday brief rounded up a series of crypto and related market developments, led by fresh inflows into U.S. spot crypto ETFs and several corporate updates. The outlet said a housing bill carrying a provision that bans a CBDC has formally taken effect, becoming law even though Donald Trump did not sign it. On fund flows, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net inflows of $90.44 million for the previous day, with BlackRock’s IBIT leading at $86.8272 million. Spot Ethereum ETFs also stayed in positive territory, bringing in $18.4334 million in net inflows, while BlackRock’s ETHA topped the list with $16.2025 million. Elsewhere, Tom Lee said traditional finance and crypto finance will eventually merge into one market. Robinhood said its AI agent functions will soon expand into crypto trading. Hyperliquid’s two Hynix-related instruments posted a combined 24-hour trading volume above ETH, making them the second most active assets on the platform. Lighter completed the burn of about 15.64 million repurchased tokens, and Bitdeer maintained a zero-Bitcoin treasury after selling 227.5 BTC this week. The brief also said Trump announced Micron will invest $250 billion in the United States to manufacture memory chips.

A group of U.S. lawmakers has introduced legislation to permanently prohibit the issuance of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), citing worries over financial privacy and government overreach.

House Republicans are considering using FISA as a legislative vehicle to impose a permanent ban on CBDCs after progress on a housing bill stalled. The idea faces internal hesitation, including reservations from John Thune.

CryptoComLearn outlined 12 common crypto terms, including HODL, FOMO, FUD, ATH, airdrops, whitelists, and CBDCs, offering newcomers a practical guide to market language and common risks.