The NBU announced an experiment with the electronic Hryvnia

An experiment in the use of digital hryvnia (e-hryvnia) will be launched in Ukraine by the end of the year. Anyone can participate in it. This was said by the head of the Department of Payment Systems and Innovative Development of the NBU, Andrey Podderegin, reports Ekonomicheskaya Pravda.

“We plan to make this pilot project open. Banking and non-banking institutions will be agents of the central bank in distributing money, exchanging and allowing users to manage it using their mobile applications,” said Podderegin.

According to him, the NBU has currently sent an invitation to banks to participate in the pilot project. In the future, banks that confirm their participation will invite their clients.

NBU plans to start the second pilot project on the use of e-hryvnia in the second half of 2024. Estimated, it will last about six months.

As part of the experiment, everyone who wants to protest the e-hryvnia will be able to exchange their cash and non-cash currency for it.

“We are not planning the strategy that was introduced in China, where they gave out money to attract people,” Podderegin added.

According to him, the purpose of the second experiment on the use of the central bank digital currency in Ukraine is to determine whether there is a need for this type of currency among the population and whether there is a need for its implementation at all. As part of the experiment, it is planned to test the ability to pay with digital currency offline. In addition, the NBU plans to provide the technical ability to program e-hryvnia.

The NBU conducted the first experiment with the use of e-hryvnia in 2018, becoming one of the first central banks in the world to start testing the use of digital currency. As part of the first pilot project, the National Bank issued 5,443 e-hryvnia, which were used only by employees of the regulator.

In total, 208 transfer operations between e-wallets, 82 operations for replenishment of these wallets, 42 operations for exchanging e-hryvnia for non-cash currency, 40 operations in transfers for military needs in Donbass and 19 operations for replenishment of a mobile account (of the LifeCell operator) were made.

Let’s recall that in November 2022, the National Bank presented a draft concept of the digital hryvnia, designed to perform all the functions of money and complement the cash and non-cash forms of the hryvnia.