Blockchain and fintech companies Bitt and TASCOMBANK, one of the oldest commercial banks in Ukraine, launched a pilot project to issue electronic hryvnia on Stellar.

As part of the pilot, the cross-company team will test electronic hryvnia in the use cases of programmable payroll and peer-to-peer payment and merchant payment for public officials of the IT solutions company Diia.

The project is being implemented under the supervision of the National Bank of Ukraine and with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation.

Oleksandr Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, said: “This pilot project will serve as the technical basis for electronic currency issuance and is the next key step in advancing Ukraine’s payment and financial infrastructure innovation.”

“Working with Bitt to build on Stellar allows us to connect our core banking system with blockchain-based infrastructure to create an ecosystem that includes a full range of banking products that use electronic money on the Stellar blockchain And operation. Electronic money paves the way for more complex products in the virtual asset field that we are happy to explore.”
– Volodymyr Dubey, Chairman of the Board of TASCOMBANK

The goal of the project is to pilot the issuance of electronic currency on an open blockchain with the issuer’s asset control capabilities. TASCOMBANK will build and test regulated electronic hryvnia on Stellar and will be deployed on Bitt’s Digital Currency Management System (DCMS).

Bitt’s market-proven DCMS includes a core currency trading network, a secure casting system, and a digital currency operation manager.

“Bitt is pleased to work with leading blockchain networks such as Stellar to take advantage of its many advantages, including greater flexibility to meet the specific needs of electronic hryvnia. Bitt’s DCMS will equip TASCOMBANK with secure casting, storage, distribution, All the technologies needed to distribute and exchange electronic hryvnia. In a country that is rapidly adopting various digital currency technologies and applications, we see a bright future for electronic hryvnia and many will bring value to Ukraine and other regions Use cases.”
-Brian Popelka, CEO of Bitt

Importantly, the regulated electronic hryvnia will be established in accordance with Ukraine’s current electronic money legislation. The Payment Services Law will govern the circulation of electronic money and the issuance of future digital currencies under the authorization of the National Bank of Ukraine, and is expected to take effect in 2022.

“Stellar is an open network, and its design considers asset issuance, which is particularly suitable for assets such as electronic hryvnia. It provides a set of control measures for issuers such as TASCOMBANK, which can be configured according to asset control requirements while maintaining open classification The interoperability and flexibility of accounts. We are very pleased that TAS and Bitt have chosen the Stellar network for this pilot.”
——Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of SDF