Jamaica joins the trend and launches a new electronic currency

August 14, 2021-11:29 am. NS.

The Bank of Jamaica minted a new electronic currency totaling $1.5 million this week, joining a growing list of emerging markets that are betting on digital money to reduce transaction costs and boost their participation in the formal financial system.

Bank of Jamaica Deputy Governor Natalie Hines said in a phone interview Thursday that any Jamaican with a mobile phone will eventually be able to use the digital currency.

Haynes said the new currency also reduces costs to monetary authorities by reducing spending on printing, security and distribution associated with physical cash.

The bank spent about $6.4 million annually acquiring banknotes and coins. He said it generally takes nine months to order, print and deliver physical currency. This week, the central bank minted $230 million in Jamaican digital devices, or about $1.5 million, in minutes.

Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, are a national currency, unlike their crypto counterparts, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are prized in part because they are not tied to fiat currency.

Jamaica will test its cryptocurrency during a trial period that will last until December. With that, he hopes to push adoption by using technology to distribute welfare payments. The ECurrency Mint Inc. will be. Ireland-based is the government’s technology provider.

The country joins the Bahamas and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank to be among the first jurisdictions in the world to implement national digital currencies. Earlier this year, China launched the “digital renminbi.”

While the Bahamas has a “sand dollars” and the Eastern Caribbean has a “DCash,” Jamaica’s digital currency has yet to be named.

“We’re looking for a Jamaican native name,” Hines said. “We want people to sympathize with him.”