The hryvnia — a currency rooted in Kievan Rus

The hryvnia is Ukraine's currency, a name a thousand years old: in Kievan Rus, the grivna was a unit of weight in silver (from which, by cutting, the ruble was also born).

Identity through currency

Reviving the hryvnia name, at Ukraine's independence in 1996, was an act of national identity — just as Romanians named their currency the "leu". Money always says who you want to be.