Montenegro Prime Minister Dritan Abazović announced on Twitter that his country is seeking a digital currency in partnership with Ripple. Abazović met with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Vice President James Wallis in Davos.
Wallis is Ripple's Vice President of Central Banking and CBDC. Abazović clearly had something like a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in mind in his statement, as he put it in the post: “In cooperation with @Ripple and the Central Bank, we launched a pilot project to build the first digital currency or stablecoin for Montenegro.”
However, the exact nature of the potential future digital currency is unclear, as Montenegro currently does not have its own national currency. The Balkan countries have used the euro as their currency since the introduction of the transnational currency in 2002, although Montenegro is neither part of the euro zone nor a member of the European Union (EU). Montenegro applied to join the European Union in 2008.
For months, the Montenegrin government has been fighting to gain a foothold in the cryptocurrency industry. It has a reputation for accepting cryptocurrencies and hosts a panel called Future Now! In April, ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was in attendance. Buterin was reportedly granted Montenegrin citizenship at the time.
The Ripple project was widely covered by local news outlets when the announcement was made on Jan. 18, but word of the project took several days to reach the international community.
The Ripple advisor last year promised new activity in CBDC transactions, specifically mentioning Bhutan and Palau among “several ongoing pilots.” The company is also a founding member of the Digital Dollar Project and joined the Digital Euro Association in February 2022.
