Tascombank launches pilot to issue electronic money based on Stellar
The Ukrainian Tascombank, in partnership with Bitt, has launched a pilot project to issue electronic money on the Stellar blockchain. сообщила Stellar Development Foundation (SDF).
The aim of the initiative is to issue electronic currency with programmable use.
Under the pilot, the electronic money will be tested for payroll payments to employees working on the state service “Diia,” as well as in peer-to-peer and merchant payments.
The chairman of Tascombank, Vladimir Dubey, said that the collaboration will bring together the banking system with blockchain-based infrastructure and create an ecosystem that “includes the full spectrum of banking products and operations with electronic currency on the Stellar blockchain.”
The project is being implemented under the supervision of the National Bank and with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
In the National Bank, заявили, that the pilot does not directly relate to the issuance of the e-hryvnia; however, in the future, the pilot’s results could be applied in its development.
“This will help us study the potential of using blockchain technology with programmable functionality in shaping the concept of the e-hryvnia,” said the regulator’s representatives.
The National Bank continues work on the architecture of the national digital currency and on determining optimal ways to use it. The creation of the concept is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
Thereafter, a regulatory framework will be prepared, and, provisionally in 2023, a competitive selection of a technology provider to conduct a pilot issue of the e-hryvnia will take place.
In December 2020, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and SDF signed a memorandum of cooperation in the field of virtual assets. In July 2021, SDF joined the Association of Ukrainian Banks.
On 30 June, Verkhovna Rada passed the Law on Payment Services, which among other things regulates the general principles of issuing central bank digital currencies. In July, it was signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In September, the National Bank said that a pilot to pay salaries to Ministry of Digital Transformation staff in the e-hryvnia could already start this year.
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