Ukraine unveils concept for the e-hryvnia

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) presented the проект концепции е-гривны to participants in the virtual assets market, and to representatives of banks and financial institutions.

The e-hryvnia is defined in the document as the “electronic form of Ukraine’s monetary unit,” issued by the NBU.

The project describes the possible design of the asset, its architecture, characteristics and advantages for payment service providers.

The NBU is considering several potential use cases for the e-hryvnia:

• for retail cashless payments with the possibility of “programming” money: to carry out social payments, reduce administrative costs and monitor the targeted use of funds, and also to create smart contracts;

• use in the area related to the turnover of virtual assets;

• carrying out cross-border payments in a faster, cheaper and more transparent way.

“The development and implementation of the e-hryvnia will contribute to the digitalization of Ukraine’s economy, the further spread of cashless payments, reducing their cost, increasing their transparency, and enhancing trust in the national currency overall,” said Oleksiy Shaban, deputy chairman of the NBU.

The central bank will continue developing the concept of the national digital currency in cooperation with market participants.

Earlier, the NBU had been studying the possibility of launching its own CBDC. In 2017, the NBU reported the completion of a pilot project for issuing the e-hryvnia.

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