Ukraine Prepones Pilot Launch of Digital Hryvnia To 2023

• When the pilot phase was first proposed, it was set to begin in 2024.
• The Stellar Development Foundation was selected as a partner by the ministry.

Mykhailo Fedorov, the minister in charge of Ukraine’s digital transformation, said in an interview that he plans to speed up the process of creating the country’s electronic hryvnia (e-hryvnia). When the pilot phase was first proposed, it was set to begin in 2024, but the government has decided to move forward the launch date to this year.

According to Fedorov, who spoke to the business news outlet RBC-Ukraine, the first blockchain transactions using the digital hryvnia have already taken place.

The Stellar Development Foundation was selected as a partner by the ministry in January 2021 to assist in the development of the country’s virtual assets ecosystem, which will include support for the Ukrainian central bank’s digital currency (CBDC).

Speeding Up the Launch

In November of 2022, the NBU presented a “draft e-hryvnia concept” to stakeholders in the cryptocurrency sector, banking institutions, and other financial institutions. Moreover, Tascombank conducted pilot testing of the currency on the Stellar network in January of this year.

The central bank’s Strategy 2025 includes a proposal to implement the CBDC. Fedorov, who is also Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, claimed to have sent a letter to the NBU urging the central bank to hasten the creation of an electronic version of the hryvnia.

A pilot programme for the digital hryvnia, as required by existing Ukrainian law, is due to be launched by the NBU in 2024, the digital minister has emphasized. Mykhailo Fedorov, another crypto supporter, added, that they want to begin this year and not delay it until the next.