Tascombank, one of the oldest commercial banks in Ukraine, is launching a Stellar-based pilot for Ukraine's national fiat currency, the hryvnia.

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced on Tuesday a individual electronic hryvnia pilot launched past Tascombank and fintech company Bitt.

The electronic hryvnia pilot is beingness implemented under the supervision of the National Bank of Ukraine and is supported past the Ministry building of Digital Transformation (MDT).

Oleksandr Bornyakov, deputy minister of the MDT, said that the pilot project volition provide a "technological basis for the issuance of electronic money" and is the "next key step to advance innovation of payment and fiscal infrastructure in Ukraine."

SDF CEO Denelle Dixon told Cointelegraph that the pilot work has already kicked off, with the first test including programmable payroll for public employees at Diia, a public IT solutions enterprise owned and supported by the MDT of Ukraine.

"This regulated electronic hryvnia will exist privately issued e-money on blockchain technology, built under Ukraine'due south current e-money legislation," Dixon noted.

The purpose of the initiative is to test the issuance of electronic money on an open blockchain. Tascombank is responsible for edifice and testing the electronic hryvnia on Stellar to deploy information technology on Bitt'south transaction network known as Digital Currency Direction System, or DCMS.

"Bitt's DCMS will equip Tascombank with all of the technology required to securely mint, store, issue, distribute, and redeem the electronic hryvnia," Bitt CEO Brian Popelka said.

While Bitt is providing a transaction network, SDF will assistance Tascombank "configure for their nugget command needs while maintaining the interoperability and flexibility of an open ledger," Dixon noted.

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The Ukrainian government has been actively exploring Stellar for digital currency implementations. In Jan 2022, the MDT starting time partnered with the SDF to develop a digital nugget and infrastructure strategy for a cardinal bank digital currency.

"We continue to provide input and guidance to MDT on their strategy work," Dixon stated, adding that the electronic hryvnia pilot projection is a separate workstream.