Caribbean island of Jamaica has announced its plans to pilot a CBDC this May as it has been working with an “extensive procurement process.” The country’s central bank has chosen a technology provider to help with the CBDC solution. The startup the bank found dubbed Ecurrency Mint Incorporated stems from the BoJ’s Fintech Regulatory Sandbox.
The CBDC will work alongside paper notes and Jamaican coinage.
“Ecurrency Mint will also be the provider when the national CBDC roll-out begins in early 2022,” the central bank’s announcement notes. The CBDC pilot will be tested starting in May and will go through until the end of December 2021. According to the central bank’s notice, the CBDC will work alongside paper notes and Jamaican coinage. The central bank noted: “Ecurrency Mint is a global thought leader and pioneer of the hardware, software, and cryptographic security protocol technology to enable central banks to issue, distribute and supervise the CBDC securely.” The CBDC will operate alongside notes and coins as digital legal tender, the central bank added.
Jamaica joins the list of other countries working on CBDCs.
The Bank of Jamaica’s announcement adds Jamaica’s island country to the growing list of countries building CBDCs. While the socialist nation of Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro’s regime was one of the first CBDCs to go live, many other nations are getting very close to releasing cryptocurrencies backed by a nation-state. This includes countries like China, Sweden, the EU, Marshall Islands, and the Bahamas. As reported earlier, the Bank of Japan also announced its plans to work on its digital currency this year. India is also looking to issue a framework for a digital rupee in a controversial proposed bill.
