Ukrainian bank uses Stellar to launch electronic hryvnia pilot

Tascombank is one of the oldest banks in Ukraine and has launched a Stellar-based pilot to support Ukraine’s national fiat currency the hryvnia.

On Tuesday, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), announced a private electronic Hryvnia pilot that was launched by Tascombank as well as Bitt, a fintech company.

Under the supervision of National Bank of Ukraine, the pilot for electronic hryvnia is being implemented and supported by Ministry of Digital Transformation (MDT).

Oleksandr Bornyakov is deputy minister to the MDT and said that the pilot project will provide the “technological base for the issuance electronic money” and the “next key steps to advance innovation in payment and financial infrastructures in Ukraine.”

Denelle Dixon, CEO of SDF, told Cointelegraph that pilot work had already begun, with the first test including programmable pay for public employees at Diia (a public IT solution enterprise owned by the MDT of Ukraine).

Dixon stated that the regulated electronic hryvnia would be privately issued emoney on blockchain technology under Ukraine’s current laws.

This initiative is intended to verify the issue of electronic money on an open Blockchain. Tascombank is responsible to build and test the electronic hryvnia using Stellar in order to deploy it on Bitt’s digital currency management system, or DCMS.

Brian Popelka, Bitt CEO, stated that Tascombank will be equipped with the DCMS from Bitt to secure mint, store and issue electronic hryvnia.

Bitt provides a transaction network. SDF will help Tascombank to “configure for their assets control needs while maintaining interoperability, flexibility and the flexibility of an open ledger,” Dixon stated.

Related: The Ukrainian president sends a virtual asset bill back to parliament for revision

The Ukrainian government is actively looking into Stellar to implement digital currency. The MDT partnered first with the SDF in January 2021 to develop a digital infrastructure strategy and digital asset strategy for a central banking digital currency.

Dixon said, “We continue providing input and guidance to MDT regarding their strategy work,” adding that the electronic-hryvnia pilot program is an independent workstream.