The financial authorities of South Korean have announced during a fintech meeting that it will launch a full-scale pilot project on blockchain-powered financial services this year, Korea Herald reported.

According to Jeong Eun-bo, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission who presided the fintech meet, the country has planned to embark on a pilot project in earnest this year. South Korea, which is known for its information and communication technology (ICT) prowess, has accelerated its drive for capitalizing on the new platform.

"Blockchain technology has great potential to be used in finance and various other fields. Since South Korea has the world's top-level ICT technology, it will be able to lead the international trend in the blockchain sector if the government, related industries, and experts pool their wisdom,” Jeong said.

Last month, South Korea created a government-civilian consortium on blockchain that involves 16 local banks and 25 brokerage companies. The country’s banking industry has planned to study on how customers can use blockchain technology in changing banks that are designated for foreign exchange transactions without documents and complicated procedures.

Jeong also mentioned within the financial investments, investors can do away with login and authentication procedures that are time-consuming in terms of accessing the mobile trading systems of securities firms. He added that the blockchain revolution is said to be the equivalent of the Internet revolution that was seen in the 1990s.

The country’s equity marketplace Korea Exchange is also seeking to explore the potentials and applications of blockchain technology to OTC stock trading.