The draft concept for the digital hryvnia has been released by the National Bank of Ukraine. One of the design options for the Ukrainian CBDC describes the e-hryvnia that can be used in crypto exchange operations.
A draft concept for the central bank digital currency (CBDC) candidate digital hryvnia, or e-hryvnia, has been presented by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
On Nov. 28, the central bank of Ukraine issued a statement regarding the idea of the e-hryvnia, which aims to perform all of the functions of money by supplementing the hryvnia’s cash and non-cash forms.
According to the NBU, it has presented the e-hryvnia concept and is working with payment companies, state agencies, and participants in the virtual assets market to continue developing the CBDC project.
The announcement said that the central bank is looking into and making three possible CBDC options based on their design and main features.
The first option talks about the e-hryvnia, which can be used for non-cash retail payments and has the potential to function like “programmed” money thanks to smart contracts. According to the NBU, a retail e-hryvnia would make it possible to implement targeted social payments and cut down on government spending on administration.
The e-hryvnia would be available for use in cryptocurrency exchange, issuance, and other virtual asset operations, according to the second CBDC option. According to the announcement, “the e-hryvnia can become one of the key components of quality infrastructure development for the virtual assets market in Ukraine.”
The e-hryvnia is included in the third option to enable cross-border payments and make global transactions faster, cheaper, and more transparent.
“The turn of events and execution of the e-hryvnia can be the subsequent stage in the advancement of the installment framework of Ukraine,” Oleksii Shaban, head of NBU installment frameworks and imaginative improvement division, said in the proclamation. He went on to say that a Ukrainian CBDC could help ensure economic security, strengthen the state’s monetary sovereignty, and promote long-term economic growth.
The announcement says that the Ukrainian Intellectual Property Institute will register the NBU’s trademark “e-hryvnia” in October 2022.
The NBU has been working with major industry projects like the Stellar Development Foundation and hiring blockchain developers to actively investigate the possibility of issuing a CBDC in recent years, as previously reported.
The regulator claims that in 2018, the NBU began a pilot project to issue the e-hryvnia for use in blockchain-based retail payments.
