The National Bank of Ukraine presented the project of the concept of e-hryvnia – digital money of the NBU to participants of the payment market. E-hryvnia is an electronic form of the monetary unit of Ukraine, which will be a direct obligation of the central bank. Its main purpose is to effectively perform all the functions of money, supplementing the cash and non-cash forms of the hryvnia.

According to the plan of the NBU, the use of e-hryvnia should be convenient and accessible to all segments of the population, legal entities, state bodies, banks and non-bank financial institutions. Electronic money will contribute to the digitization of the economy, the further spread of cashless payments, the reduction of their cost and the increase of their transparency.

During the discussion with market participants, the NBU provided a possible design of the e-hryvnia, its architecture, characteristics and advantages for organizations that offer payment services. It is expected that the use of a technological platform for instant e-hryvnia calculations, service programming and data flow analysis will create wide opportunities for new business opportunities, digitalization of services, attraction of new customers, cost optimization, etc.

Currently, the NBU is considering and working out various possible options for using the e-hryvnia, which will depend on its design and main characteristics:

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1. e-hryvnia for retail non-cash payments with possible functionality of “programmed” money. Digital money will be used to make targeted social payments, reduce government costs for administration and control the targeted use of funds, as well as use smart contract technology to program various calculation logic depending on the occurrence of certain circumstances and facts;
2. e-hryvnia for use in the field related to the circulation of virtual assets. For example, to exchange, secure issuance and other operations with virtual assets;
3. e-hryvnia to ensure the possibility of making cross-border payments. It will provide an opportunity to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper and more transparently.

The NBU continues to work on the e-hryvnia concept draft with market participants and state authorities. At the same time, it is planned to take into account the interests and needs of all market participants and potential users, as well as the potential impact of its implementation on the financial system of the state.

E-hryvnia is possibly the new Ukrainian digital currency. We tell you what it is and when it will become publicly available

Source: NBU

• The National Bank of Ukraine has been working on the e-hryvnia project for a long time – the equivalent of the regular fiat hryvnia – since 2017.
• In the summer of 2019, the NBU conducted internal testing of electronic hryvnias as part of a pilot project, and at the beginning of 2021, the Ministry of Digital Affairs agreed to cooperate with the Stellar Development Foundation regarding the e-hryvnia project — instead, the National Bank mentioned the possibility in one of its reports.
• A pilot project on the use of e-hryvnia was also launched.