Ukrainian ministry considering digital currency pilot for staff salaries

Paying ministry employees in e-hryvnia could be a suitable first pilot for the central bank digital currency currently in development.

Mikhail Fedorov, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister and the head of the country’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, has revealed a possible early use case for the nation’s planned central bank digital currency (CBDC).

In a recent interview published by Ukrainian media outlet TSN, the minister revealed considerations within the ministry to test out the CBDC by using the electronic currency in staff salary payments:

“Frankly as one of the first pilots, we have on the table the question of paying salaries to employees of the Ministry of Digital Transformation in electronic hryvnia.”

Fedorov made these comments while arguing the case for the initial roll-out of the e-hryvnia to focus on a small, controlled use case rather than being deployed for social payments. According to Fedorov, there is the need to test the CBDC to prevent inappropriate use, hence, his call for staff salary payments as a viable pilot scheme for the national digital currency.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Ukraine’s central bank received authorization to issue a digital currency following the passage of a new payment services law by the country’s legislature.

The National Bank of Ukraine has been working on creating and issuing a digital currency over the last few years. The Ministry of Digital Transformation also has some significant involvement in the CBDC space having partnered with the Stellar Development Foundation to develop a joint strategy for CBDCs and digital assets in general.

Related: New bill in Ukraine to allow payments in cryptocurrency, says official

Using CBDCs to pay government workers is often one of the pilot implementation strategies for national digital currency projects.

Indeed, among the few sovereign digital currencies already in circulation, several projects have elected to pay state employees in the CBDC.

Back in June, China, one of the leading nations in the CBDC arena, debuted a blockchain-based system for digital yuan salary payments.