‘Bank of Jamaica Will Roll Out Digital Jamaican Dollar in 2022,’ Says Prime Minister – Bitcoin News

According to an announcement from Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness the Bank of Jamaica plans to “roll out” its central bank digital currency (CBDC) after the country’s successful pilot last year.

Jamaica’s CBDC Is Due to Launch This Year

According to Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica, Jamaica is going to start its CBDC in this year. On February 10, the Jamaican bureaucrat posted about the CBDC. said: “the Bank of Jamaica will roll out our own digital Jamaican dollar in 2022 after a successful pilot during 2021.”

The statement follows the Jamaican central bank’s “successful” pilot it experimented with last year. Three schemes had been tested by the Bank of Jamaica during its pilot phase, which ended in 2021.

Holness’ statements reaffirmed that the CBDC had been successful, and that the digital currency would be the infrastructure. “This will serve as a foundation for Jamaica’s digital payments architecture and will facilitate greater financial inclusion, increase transaction velocity while reducing the cost of banking for the Jamaican people,” Holness insisted. According to Holness, the Jamaican bureaucrat said:

This represents a significant step towards building a country of Peace, Opportunity, And Prosperity.

Jamaica’s CBDC Wallet Will Work With Credit Cards and Prepaid Cards, Says Sagicor Bank Jamaica Executive

Jamaica’s upcoming CBDC follows a small handful of nation-states like China, Nigeria, and Venezuela that have deployed CBDCs. In the meantime, the European Commission announced it would unveil a digital Euro bill in 2023. The Federal Reserve released code and research on their CBDC project.

Bank of Jamaica collaborated with National Commercial Bank (NCB), to pilot the CBDC and provide a few wallet providers. Jamaica’s central bank issued approximately $230 million worth of the CBDC on August 9. Holness anticipates that more than 70% will adopt the CBDC within the next five years.

Sabrina Cooper (Sagicor Bank Jamaica vice-president retail banking) stated to Jamaica Observer, that the CBDC wallet is not just about leveraging CBDC.

“Your digital wallet is not just the CBDC, you can have debit and credit cards,” Cooper insisted. “If you look at what’s happening globally, the wallet is gonna look just like your physical wallet in your pocket or in your handbag. It’s going to have your CBDC or some kind of digital currency cash equivalent, credit cards or even prepaid cards.”

Is Jamaica going to launch a CBDC in Jamaica this year? Please comment below to let us know your thoughts on this topic.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is the News Lead for Bitcoin.com News. He also lives in Florida and works as a journalist covering financial technology. Redman is an active participant in the cryptocurrency community from 2011. Redman is passionate about Bitcoin and open-source codes. Redman has contributed more than 5,000 articles to Bitcoin.com News since September 2015. These articles are about disruptive protocols that are emerging.