Today the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced it signed a deal with Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation to work on both a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as well as stablecoin and virtual asset infrastructure.
Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Bornyakov said the project includes the “development of the infrastructure for a Ukrainian national digital currency. Most of the world’s leading countries are developing their own national digital currencies. The National Bank of Ukraine has been researching the possibility of CBDC implementation since 2017.”
However, the project isn’t limited to a digital hryvnia currency. It includes Stellar helping with developing a virtual assets market in the country, assisting with implementing stablecoins using the Stellar blockchain and developing a digital currency for the Central Bank.
“We believe digital assets and national digital currencies are one of the most important innovations of our lifetimes and we are excited to play a role in the creation of Ukraine’s digital asset infrastructure,” said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director, Stellar Development Foundation.
The SDF will start working on the project his month.
Numerous companies are competing to work on CBDC projects, both consultants and protocols. At one stage, R3’s Corda made significant headway with Accenture and cryptoBLK as implementors. Recently ConsenSys landed some research projects and the U.S. Federal Reserve is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Even the likes of Mastercard and Visa are aiming to participate. To date, the organization that has embraced the widest array of participants is the Banque de France, which chose eight teams, many of which created considerable consortia.