Employees of Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation may
become the first in the country to get their salaries in digital
currency. The National Bank of Ukraine is developing an electronic
version of the Ukrainian hryvnia and the ministry is considering the
option of using the state-issued coin for remuneration.
Government Employees to Be Paid With Digital Hryvnia
The Digital Ministry is planning to compensate its employees with Ukraine’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), once the new hryvnia is ready for testing. In a recent interview
with online news portal TSN, Minister Mykhailo Fedorov revealed this is
among the department’s first initiatives for the digitalized national
fiat, stating:
We have it on the table as one of the first pilots, the
payment of salaries to employees of the Ministry of Digital
Transformation in electronic hryvnia.
Fedorov pointed out that “Ukrainians rank first in the world in terms
of adaptability to virtual assets.” This openness to technology can be
one of Ukraine’s main advantages, he noted, which can attract additional
investments to the country and its businesses.
Ukraine was ranked
first among over 150 nations in last year’s edition of the Global
Crypto Adoption Index by blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis. The
government in Kyiv is yet to introduce comprehensive regulations for the
country’s expanding crypto space and issue its own digital currency. A draft law “On Virtual Assets,” which was recently revised, is expected to be adopted by the end of the year.
Ukraine’s Coin May Be Used for Subsidies and Social Payments
Another project to pilot the implementation of the digital hryvnia is
to use it in the payment of social benefits and government subsidies.
However, Mykhailo Fedorov believes authorities need to test the
technology first, in order to gather user experience data and understand
how it all works before applying the CBDC in the social sphere. The
official emphasized:
We are studying the experience of other countries that
have launched pilots or are trying to introduce similar electronic
currencies.
Fedorov, who also serves as Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister,
further elaborated that the central bank digital currency comes with the
option to employ smart contracts that can potentially limit the misuse
of government grants, Forklog reported. All this will depend on the
technical implementation of the digital hryvnia, he noted.
In a separate interview with financial news portal Minfin,
Fedorov’s deputy, Oleksandr Bornyakov, revealed that besides moving
forward with the digital hryvnia project, Ukraine is preparing to legalize
cryptocurrencies. In July, a survey among representatives of the
country’s financial sector indicated that the industry would like the
future CBDC to be based on blockchain and used to facilitate
transactions in the crypto space.
source link : https://news.bitcoin.com/ukraines-digital-ministry-plans-to-pay-employees-with-digital-hryvnia-in-pilot-project/
