National Bank of Ukraine reported to central banks about testing e-hryvnia

Representatives of ten central banks together with the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) discussed development prospectsdigital currencies of the Central Bank (CBDC) and got acquainted with the results of testing e-hryvnia.

The event was attended by representatives of the central banks of Canada, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan, Finland, Lithuania, Belarus, Uruguay and South Africa.

The Ukrainian regulator spoke about the results of testing the digital hryvnia (e-hryvnia). As part of the pilot, a limited number of coins worth about five thousand hryvnia were issued.

«The vision of the NBU is that the e-hryvnia — is fiat currency in electronic form, which must be exchanged for cash or non-cash funds in a ratio of 1:1», —emphasized in the National Bank.

Working groups tested the possibilities of creating andreplenishment of an electronic wallet and transfers through it. In turn, the NBU investigated the possibilities of blockchain technology for the release of CBDC, as well as the legal aspects of issuing e-hryvnia.

«If in the future the client feelsadvantages of digital currency, and this is primarily the speed and low cost of payments, he will continue to use this instrument. At the same time, the demand for digital currency will stimulate the spread of transactions with it, and market participants — develop infrastructure», —noted Deputy Director of the Department of Payment Systems and Innovative Development of the NBU Olga Vasileva.

In the NBU report on the pilot project, published inlast year, it is indicated that “there are no fundamental advantages of using DLT technology to build a centralized system for issuing e-hryvnia.”

Briefing note (e-hryvnia) by ForkLog on Scribd

According to CoinDesk, representatives of other central banks also expressed skepticism regarding the use of blockchain to issue CBDC.

“The essence of DLT infrastructure is that neitherone party should not be fully trusted, but don’t we trust the central bank to maintain the integrity of the global distributed ledger?” —said Harro Boven, a political adviser in the payment policy department of the Central Bank of the Netherlands.

Nevertheless, the NBU still does not exclude the use of blockchain for issuing e-hryvnia.

«In 2020, there is no longer a question of whether there should be a digital currency or not. This is already a given. The only question is who and how will create it», —noted the head of the National Bank, Yakov Smoliy.

At the moment, the NBU has suspended testing and expects further development of regulation of digital assets in Ukraine.

Earlier, ForkLog reported that at the conference, the NBU, together with Distributed Lab, introduced the MVP (minimally viable product) digital hryvnia system.

The news is being supplemented.