Bank Of Jamaica To Launch Digital Jamaican Dollar In 2022: Report

The Bank of Jamaica announced that it will roll out a digital Jamaican dollar later this year and Prime Minister Andrew Holness confirmed so let’s read further in today’s later cryptocurrency news.

Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea and the Bank of Jamaica plans to launch a CBDC this year according to Prime Minister Andrew Holness. The Jamaican minister tweeted that the CBDC will be released later this year and said:

 “the Bank of Jamaica will roll out our own digital Jamaican dollar in 2022 after a successful pilot during 2021.”

The statement came after the Central bank deemed its pilot successful and at the end of 2021, the Bank even told the public three schemes were tested during the pilot phase. The statements stemming from Holness reiterated that CBDCs are successful and the digital currency will be the base of 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. This is a big step in building a nation of Peace, Opportunity, and Prosperity.”

Jamaica’s CBDC wallet will work with credit cards and prepaid cards as the Bank Executive noted. Jamaica’s upcoming CBDC came after a small handful of nation-states like Nigeria, China, Venezuela which already deployed CBDCs. In the meantime, the European Commission disclosed it will be unveiling a digital euro bill in 2023 and the FED already released research data on the CBDC project. The Bank of Jamaica worked with the National Commercial Bank on the CBDC pilot and a limited number of wallet providers with the central bank issuing $230 million worth of CBDC in August. Holness expects more than 70% of the Jamaican population to adopt the CBDC in the next five years.

The vice-president at Sagicor Bank Sabrina Cooper said that the CBDC wallet will not be just for leveraging the CBDC:

“Your digital wallet is not just the CBDC, you can have debit and credit cards. 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.”