Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, has recently visited Silicon Valley to meet crypto representatives and discuss future ventures. The visit comes after his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and other officials in Washington.
At Silicon Valley, Zelensky met with the representatives of the Stellar Development Foundation, which is part of a collaboration to lay the groundwork for Ukraine’s fully digitized economy.
The foundation warmly welcomed the President and said that it is looking forward to Ukraine’s transition into the digital economy and its use of blockchain technology. It also added that it commends Zelensky’s initiative to transform Ukraine’s economy through the use of modern tech.
Stellar expertise
Stellar Development Foundation has been chosen to provide assistance and expertise to Ukraine’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). It will also open a research and development center in the country soon.
On top of this virtual currency push, the country has just also passed a law legalizing cryptocurrencies by establishing a regulatory framework that would oversee the crypto market.
“Regulatory clarity for crypto is undoubtedly bullish for the space. Thanks, Ukraine!,” Changpeng Zhao, Binance Chief Executive Officer, said.
The country has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $155 billion for its 44 million citizens, meaning that it’s within the bracket of a middle-income country. Ukraine is consistently growing at about 3%-4%, but the problem is, it is also dealing with a very high inflation rate of about 10%.
Embracing CBDC
Ukraine is the only country in Europe to see war in modern times, and this has put pressure especially on its hryvnia currency.
In fact, hryvnia’s value has decreased by 50% in 2016, and unfortunately, it has not recovered since. This dilemma ranks as Ukraine’s second-biggest problem after national security.
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