Ukraine Taps Stellar Foundation to Develop National Digital Currency Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Stellar Development Foundation has conceded to co-develop its virtual assets strategy.
The agreement will involve Stellar, the Stellar cryptocurrency organization (XLM), working to develop Ukraine’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). The National Bank of Ukraine started studying a CBDC in 2017.
“The Ministry of Digital Transformation is working on creating the legal environment for the development of virtual assets in Ukraine. We believe our cooperation with the Stellar Development Foundation will contribute to the development of the virtual asset industry and its integration into the global financial ecosystem,”
Deputy Minister Oleksandr Bornyakov of Digital Transformation for IT Development.
“Another important aspect of this cooperation is contributing to the development of the infrastructure for a Ukrainian national digital currency. Most of the world’s leading countries are developing their national digital currencies,” he added. “At the Ministry, we aspire to ensure our country’s adaptation to technological innovations and competitiveness in the financial market in Eastern Europe.”
Besides developing a CBDC based on Ukraine’s Hryvnia fiat currency, Stellar will help build the country’s virtual asset infrastructure and give support for similar projects and help implement regulation for stablecoin assets in Ukraine. The work will begin this month.
Nevertheless, the announcement does not state if Ukraine’s digital currency will be on Stellar’s XLM blockchain. It has also been noted that the Ukraine National Bank mentioned before the use of a “private version of the Stellar blockchain” in a report on the digital currency pilot program in 2019.
The Ukrainian alliance comes after a series of Stellar-backed stablecoin debuts in different countries. Last November, Stellar teamed up with Shift Network to launch stablecoins in Argentina and Brazil to help with remittances between the economies. December has seen Stellar agree to develop a Euro stablecoin for Germany’s Bankhaus von der Heydt (BVDH).
“We believe digital assets and national digital currencies are one of the most important innovations of our lifetimes and we are excited to play a role in the creation of Ukraine’s digital asset infrastructure,”
Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director, Stellar Development Foundation.
“Through the leadership of the Ministry, Ukraine has demonstrated its commitment to fostering an environment of innovation for the digital economy,” she continued. “We look forward to working with the Ministry and other stakeholders to digitize the hryvnia, to bring Stellar-based tools and services to the people and businesses of Ukraine, and to introduce new partnership opportunities in Ukraine to businesses in the Stellar ecosystem.”
Ukraine is ranked number one in Chainalysis’s Global Crypto Adoption Index, which measures the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies among ordinary citizens.
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