In an announcement made on Tuesday, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced that Tascombank and FinTech company Bitt are launching a private electronic hryvnia pilot.
.@TASCOMBANK, one of Ukraine's oldest commercial banks, and fintech @BittGlobal have launched a pilot project to issue an electronic hryvnia on Stellar https://t.co/OJAPkvKUUv
— Stellar (@StellarOrg) December 14, 2021
The oldest bank in Ukraine, Tascombank, is launching a Stellar-based pilot for Ukraine’s national fiat currency, the Hryvnia. The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine is involved in a local bank’s project to create a Stellar stablecoin.
A statement published Tuesday said that the electronic hryvnia will be built and tested on the Stellar network and deployed via Bitt’s digital currency management system (DCMS). In the pilot, the digital currency will be tested for its use in public payroll, peer-to-peer payments, and merchant payments.
As part of the initiative, the open blockchain will be used to test how electronic money can be issued. Tascombank is responsible for building the electronic hryvnia on Stellar and testing it before deploying it over Bitt’s digital currency management system, DCMS, which is connected to Bitt’s transaction network.
It has been reported that the Ukrainian government has actively explored Stellar for the implementation of a digital currency. MDT and SDF partnered for the first time in January 2021 to develop a digital asset and infrastructure strategy for the development of a central bank digital currency to be released in 2022.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are the subject of intense research and trials throughout the world. The Atlantic Council’s CBDC tracker indicates that approximately 80 countries are investigating the possibility of central banks backing digital currencies.
The eNaira was simultaneously introduced by Nigeria in November. According to reports, almost half a million wallets were downloaded in the first three weeks after the launch. The European Central Bank has kicked off a two-year experiment into a retail CBDC that can be used by consumers for making payments and receiving payments, which began on October 1.
