Karbowanec (Karbo, KRB) – First Ukrainian Cryptocurrency
Karbowanec (Karbo, ticker KRB) is the first Ukrainian cryptocurrency, launched cleanly on May 30, 2016 without any premine. The project was built as a private, everyday digital currency with a lightweight desktop node accessible to regular users.
Official website of the Ukrainian cryptocurrency Karbowanec (Karbo)
Under the hood, the coin originally relied on the CryptoNote protocol (the same technology behind Monero), obscuring sender, recipient, and transfer amounts through ring signatures and one-time stealth addresses.
Key Specs and Evolution of the Karbo Network
At launch in summer 2016, Karbowanec ran on the CryptoNight proof-of-work algorithm to keep early ASIC miners at bay. Later, the developers went even further: the network migrated to the CPU-oriented Yespower algorithm and a hybrid Signed Proof-of-Work (SPoW) mechanism – coins are mined in solo mode directly from the official wallet without pools, preventing hashrate centralization.
- Launch date: May 30, 2016, with no premine and no ICO.
- Ticker and website:
KRB(current documentation and wallet downloads are hosted atkarbo.io). - PoW algorithm: originally CryptoNight, currently Yespower / Signed PoW (CPU solo mining).
- Supply: 10,000,000 KRB base supply, followed by a small tail emission after reaching the cap to sustain network security.
- Block time: roughly 4 minutes, starting block reward of 38 KRB with gradual reduction.
Wallet, Faucet, and Early Trading in 2016
In its very first months, the project already offered a clean graphical desktop wallet, an info portal, and an active community.
Classic Karbowanec desktop GUI wallet
Newcomers could test small amounts via a KRB faucet and follow updates on the official microblog, while early trading in summer 2016 took place on Cryptopia (the exchange was later hacked and shut down in 2019).
In July 2016, the KRB/BTC rate hovered around 0.00000999 – making one Karbo worth roughly 28 times more than Dogecoin (DOGE). With a modest base supply of 10 million coins, Karbowanec remains a rare example of a local Ukrainian crypto project that survived multiple market booms and busts since 2016 and continues to be maintained by its developer team.