중앙은행디지털통화(Central Bank Digital Currency:CBDC) 도입에 따른 한국은행법 정비방향

Electronic payments are increasingly gaining popularity nowadays. A number of electronic payment methods, such as credit card, provided by private financial institutions already exist. These methods fall under commercial bank money which is exposed to the credit risk of issuing agents. Taking weak point of commercial bank money into consideration, people may prefer to hold claims on the central bank to avoid the risk that the commercial bank defaults. From this perspective, an increasing demand for Central Bank Digital Currency(‘CBDC’) could emerge. CBDC held by non-bank economic agents could either be account-based - in this case, the central bank would open an account for every CBDC holders - or it would be value-based like cash. In the former case, the transfer of CBDC accomplishes settlement finality when a sum of CBDC is debited from the account of the payer and credited to the account of the payee via central bank settlement facilities. In the latter case, non-banks who want to use CBDC would need to be equipped with electronic wallets for holding and using CBDC. The principal way which CBDC is provided to non-banks would be to allow non-banks to convert commercial bank deposits into CBDC at a rate of 1 to 1. But with this approach, the risk that bank runs accrue easily may increase. Non-banks may want to quickly exchange their commercial bank deposits for CBDC when bad rumor spreads about solvency of a certain commercial bank. Another approach to provide CBDC for mitigating bank runs also could be adopted. For example, the central bank could provide CBDC to non-banks exclusively in the context of asset purchases. The methods which CBDC is issued and maintained are classified into three modes. In the “direct CBDC” model, the CBDC represents a direct claim on the central bank, which keeps a record of all balances and updates it with every transaction. In the “indirect CBDC” model, the consumer has a claim on an intermediary, with the central bank keeping track only of wholesale accounts(‘pseudo CBDC’). In the “hybrid CBDC” model, the consumer has a claim on the central bank while intermediaries are responsible for administering CBDC payments procedure. As explained above, CBDC is a newly devised central bank money. The Act of Korea Bank did not predict the uprising of CBDC, so it may need to be reformed to accommodate CBDC system. This Article deals with several chosen issues, including providing CBDC with legal tender status, analyzing legal structure of CBDC against Korea Bank, clarifying legal ambiguity with relation to hybrid CBDC scheme.