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Ukraine Puts CBDC On Par With Cash in New Payments Law
The Ukrainian legislation now lists the future central bank digital currency as a kind of money similar to cash or bank accounts.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 1:20 p.m. Published Jul 1, 2021, 6:49 p.m.
The Ukrainian parliament considers the European country's possible central bank digital currency (CBDC) to be functionally similar to cash or other payment tools.
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The Verkhovna Rada, the governing body of Ukraine, passed a law regulating payment methods on Wednesday. The new law on payment services contains just a brief mention of the future CBDC, but it officially puts the yet-to-be-launched electronic hryvnia (Ukraine's national currency) on par with cash, bank accounts and electronic payments.
The law mentions the "digital money of the National Bank of Ukraine – electronic form of a unit of account in Ukraine, emission of which is run by the National Bank of Ukraine."
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has been looking into potentially launching a CBDC since 2018 and has even built a prototype on the Stellar blockchain. However, the project hasn't advanced much since, although the NBU has not appeared to give up on it: In 2019, the regulator hosted a conference dedicated to CBDCs with speakers from several other central banks that have also been exploring the potential of a CBDC.
Read also: From Risky to Promising: Ukraine’s Quest to Become a Dream Crypto Jurisdiction
NBU also published a report on the e-hryvnia in September 2019, talking about the 2018 pilot and analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of using decentralized tech for a CBDC.
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