Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic has announced a pilot digital currency project

On Twitter, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazovi, made the announcement that his nation is exploring the possibility of establishing a digital currency in collaboration with Ripple. At Davos, Abazovi had a meeting with the CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, and the vice president of Ripple, James Wallis.

Ripple has appointed Wallis to the position of vice president for central bank interactions and CBDCs. According to what Abazovi indicated in the conversation, he was evidently thinking of something similar to a central bank digital currency (CBDC) when he made his announcement:

However, due to the fact that Montenegro does not yet have its own national currency, it is unknown what the precise characteristics of the hypothetical future digital money will be. Despite the fact that it is neither a member of the Eurozone nor the European Union (EU), the Balkan nation of Montenegro has adopted the euro as its official currency ever since it was first introduced in 2002. This has occurred despite the fact that Montenegro is not a part of the European Union (EU). In 2008, Montenegro submitted its application to join the EU.

Since the beginning of this year, the government of Montenegro has been actively pursuing opportunities in the cryptocurrency market. It has garnered a reputation for its openness to the use of cryptocurrencies, and in April it hosted a panel with the catchy title Future Now! that Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin participated in. It was believed at this period that Buterin was awarded citizenship in Montenegro.

When the announcement on the partnership with Ripple was made on January 18, it received extensive coverage by local news sources; nevertheless, it took several days for the news of the partnership to reach the worldwide audience.

In the previous year, a Ripple consultant made a statement that the business will be increasing its engagement under CBDC agreements, explicitly noting Bhutan and Palau as two of “many trials in process.” In addition, the firm was a founder member of the Digital Dollar Project, and in February of 2022, it became a member of the Digital Euro Association.