Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Oleksiy Shaban said that e-hryvnias will become a «symbiosis» of cash and non-cash funds. According to him, the legislative basis for the issuance of a digital hryvnia already exists, but the decision on its issuance has not yet been made.
Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Oleksiy Shaban said that e-hryvnias will become a «symbiosis» of cash and non-cash funds. According to him, the legislative basis for the issuance of a digital hryvnia already exists, but the decision on its issuance has not yet been made.
Shaban told Yuriy Gaidai from the Center for Economic Strategy about this in the podcast «What about the economy?» The Deputy Chairman of the NBU noted that it is correct to call the project «digital money», not «electronic».
«Electronic money is of a slightly different nature», — he added.
According to him, digital money can provide the opportunity for «programmability», where payment occurs automatically if certain conditions are met.
«As it is written in the smart contract, then the payment takes place. For example, the programs that we have already mentioned today, support from the state. Money from „eRecovery“ can be spent on building materials. And from „eBook“ you can only buy a book», — explained Oleksiy Shaban.
He added that currently banks solve this by opening different accounts or issuing different payments. Shaban says that if certain products in a store had codes for construction materials or books, then if digital money has a corresponding note, it can only be used to pay for conditional construction materials.
«Then you can’t pay for a Snickers and Coca-Cola with this money. This improves the customer experience and reduces administration costs,» said Oleksiy Shaban. He clarified that when a seller receives target hryvnias, the target mark on his wallet is canceled, and he can then use these funds as usual cash and non-cash funds.
«By the way, the very nature of digital money, like light in physics, is a wave and an elementary part. This is a symbiosis of both something non-cash and an analogue of cash with a direct claim to the Central Bank. If you lose your wallet with hryvnia banknotes, you have lost them forever. And if, God forbid, something happens to the provider where you keep your digital wallet, then the platform we are designing will restore access to your wallet,» said the Deputy Chairman of the NBU.
He added that Ukraine is currently considering DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology), although other central banks are experimenting with other systems.
«It is important to note that we have not made a decision to start issuing a digital hryvnia. The law on payment services included an article that introduced this type of national currency — e-hryvnia, along with cash and non-cash. Now the hryvnia can also be digital», — said Oleksiy Shaban.
Despite the fact that the legislative basis for the issuance of a digital hryvnia already exists, the NBU wants to conduct several pilot projects to test hypotheses.
«We want to understand whether the digital hryvnia performs the functions of money. How convenient it is, how useful those programmable functions will be for both citizens and businesses, and state bodies — the Pension Fund, the Ministry of Social Policy, possibly the State Treasury. How much it will simplify their processes and administration for them», — Shaban said.
According to him, when digital money is issued, it will become an alternative third form of the hryvnia. Citizens will decide for themselves which form to use and to what extent.
Earlier, the National Bank noted that it is necessary to take into account the willingness of financial market participants to participate in the pilot project. It is also necessary to identify a technological partner that will provide its technological solution for testing the e-hryvnia, which will meet the requirements of the NBU and the architecture of digital money.
