Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazović has announced on Twitter that his country is pursuing a digital currency in conjunction with Ripple. Abazović met with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and vice president James Wallis at Davos.
Wallis is Ripple’s vice president for central bank engagements and CBDCs. Abazović apparently had something like a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in mind in his announcement, as he stated in the thread:
“In cooperation with @Ripple and the Central Bank, we launched a pilot project to build the first digital currency or stablecoin for Montenegro.”
The exact nature of the potential future digital currency is unclear, however, as Montenegro currently has no national currency of its own. The Balkan nation has used the euro as its currency since 2002, when the transnational currency was introduced, despite the fact that Montenegro is neither part of the Eurozone nor a European Union (EU) member. Montenegro applied for EU membership in 2008.
As per the PM of Montenegro, the nation launched a pilot project to build the first digital currency or stablecoin for Montenegro, in cooperation [email protected] and the Central Bank. https://t.co/osWT3wocPk
— Leonidas (@LeoHadjiloizou) January 29, 2023
The Montenegrin government has been angling for a place in the cryptocurrency industry for months. It has developed a reputation for its acceptance of crypto, and it held a panel titled Future Now! in April that Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin attended. Buterin was reportedly granted Montenegrin citizenship at that time.
