The development of the digital hryvnia is ongoing, but its launch in 2027 is in question due to wartime circumstances. This was announced by Oleksiy Shaban, Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, during the Kyiv International Economic Forum – 2025.
Shaban emphasized that the launch of the e-hryvnia requires significant financial resources, and spending them in times of war may be unethical.
The NBU is preparing a pilot project that will allow testing the digital currency not only within the framework of the regulator, but also in real conditions – for payments, transfers and government programs. At the same time, the cost of this stage is high, and the technical requirements are quite complex.
“We are moving forward, but I cannot say that 2027 will be the year of the introduction of the e-hryvnia”, – the Deputy Chairman of the National Bank concluded.
The draft concept of the e-hryvnia as digital money was presented by the NBU in November 2022. It was assumed that the e-hryvnia would perform all the functions of money, would complement the cash and non-cash hryvnia, and would be available for use by citizens, state bodies, legal entities, banks, and non-bank financial institutions.
In 2023, the Ministry of Digital Transformation advocated accelerating the launch of the e-hryvnia. The National Bank planned to conduct an open pilot project to test the e-hryvnia in 2025.
