The NBU revealed details about testing the e-hryvnia

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) is actively preparing for the launch of the e-hryvnia pilot in the second half of 2024. Director of the Department of Payment Systems and Innovative Development of the regulator Andrey Podderegin stated this in an interview for PaySpace Magazine.

Let us remind you that the NBU announced open testing of the e-hryvnia in February 2024. It is expected that everyone will be able to take part in it.

According to Podderegin, it is planned to attract citizens through banks participating in the program. At the same time, all payment transactions in e-hryvnia will be carried out through a single platform, the operator of which will be the NBU.

The regulator is already looking for a technical solutions provider who will develop the service. In addition, Podderegin said that the NBU sent out invitations to financial counterparties to take part in the project.

The pilot itself will proceed according to the methodology of the International Monetary Fund - 5P methodology, the official noted. He also emphasized that the NBU was one of the first in the world to test such a means of payment in 2018.

Podderegin said that the e-hryvnia will not become a replacement for fiat. However, central bank digital currency (CBDC) has certain advantages.

One of them, according to the official, will be the possibility of offline payments. The regulator will study, among other things, this possibility during the pilot project, Podderegin added.

“We see one of the important advantages as the possibility of programming payment transactions with e-hryvnia, since DLT technology potentially provides more opportunities for its implementation. In our opinion, the use of a single e-hryvnia platform will simplify the creation of innovative programmable services for users,” he said.

The decision on the advisability of launching this payment solution has not yet been made, Podderegin noted. According to him, further steps can be planned only after the pilot is completed.

The regulator's representative did not give the exact launch date of the project. This is expected to happen in the second half of 2024. However, the deadlines may be postponed due to “difficulties and new challenges.”