Bakong explained: how Cambodia’s national payment system works

Bakong is the payment system run by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC). It lets money move instantly between banks, payment apps and e-wallets, in Khmer riel or US dollars. When you scan a KHQR code with ABA, ACLEDA, Wing or another connected app and the payment arrives at a different bank within seconds, Bakong is usually the system doing the work.

The NBC launched Bakong in October 2020. It is not a cryptocurrency: balances are ordinary riel and dollars, and the system is operated and supervised by the central bank.

How Bakong works

Bakong sits between financial institutions. Each member bank or payment provider connects to it, so a customer of one institution can pay a customer of another without the two needing a direct link.

There are two ways people use it:

• Through their own bank or wallet app. This is how most people touch Bakong. The app looks the same as always; Bakong handles the transfer behind it.
• Through the Bakong app itself. The NBC also offers its own Bakong app for sending and receiving payments.

KHQR is the national QR code standard that runs on top of this network. The NBC launched it on 4 July 2022 and built it on the international EMV QR standard. A merchant can display a single KHQR code, and customers of any connected bank or wallet can pay it. Before KHQR, shops often needed a separate QR code for each bank. More in What is KHQR?.

Bakong in numbers (2025)

The figures below come from the NBC’s Financial Stability Review 2025.

The total value is roughly 4.5 times Cambodia’s GDP, which shows how much everyday money now moves through the system.

One caution for anyone citing the cross-border value: the report’s executive summary says cross-border value rose 235.3% to “KHR 111.4 trillion”, while another section gives the same figure in billions. We quote only the transaction count until the NBC clarifies.

Why Bakong matters for the riel

Cambodia is heavily dollarized: many prices, salaries and loans are in US dollars. The NBC has used Bakong as one of its tools to encourage riel payments. In 2025, riel transactions made up 58.2% of Bakong’s volume, up from 49.3% a year earlier. Small, frequent payments such as food and transport are where riel use has grown most.

Cross-border payments

Bakong is also Cambodia’s link to QR payment systems in other countries. According to the NBC, it connected with QR systems in eight economies by the end of 2025: Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea, China, Japan and Singapore.

In practice, this lets a visitor from a linked country pay at a Cambodian KHQR stand with their home banking app, and in some corridors lets Cambodians pay abroad with theirs. Each link has its own phases and direction. Our cross-border QR tracker lists them with dates and sources.

Common confusion: how many people use Bakong?

You will see very different user numbers quoted online. They usually measure different things:

• Registered Bakong app users: people with an account in the NBC’s own app. This is the smallest number.
• E-wallet accounts: all registered e-wallet accounts across Cambodian providers, many of which connect to Bakong.
• People reached through member institutions: everyone whose bank or wallet connects to Bakong. This is the largest number, and the one most often quoted in news reports.

These numbers are not interchangeable. When you see a figure, check which one it is before comparing it with anything else.

What Bakong is not

• Not a cryptocurrency. There is no Bakong coin to buy or trade.
• Not a bank. Your money is held by your bank or payment provider, which is licensed by the NBC.
• Not an investment. Bakong moves money; it does not pay returns.