National Bank to launch pilot testing of e-hryvnia next year

The National Bank of Ukraine has announced that pilot testing of the e-hryvnia, a digital form of the national currency, will begin in 2025 as part of an open project. The testing will involve real users and payment service providers, allowing anyone interested to try out the new form of money. This is reported by«Economichna Pravda».

As noted in the NBU, it is currently determined that the piloting of the e-hryvnia will take place in 2025, but the dates may change, depending on the readiness of financial market participants and the preparation of technological infrastructure. The technology that will become the basis of the e-hryvnia will use DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology), which will allow storing money directly on the accounts of the central bank, without intermediaries such as banks.

One of the key features of the e-hryvnia will be the ability to program funds, which opens up new prospects in financial management. For example, e-hryvnias may be restricted to certain types of goods or services or even have special conditions for storing funds.

This project is part of Ukraine’s efforts to develop digital currencies. Ukraine was among the first countries in the world to begin testing its own central bank digital currency (CBDC), including piloting the e-hryvnia in 2018. The pilot project produced over 5,000 e-hryvnias, which were used for a variety of transactions, including transfers, mobile top-ups, and cashless exchanges.