Eastern Caribbean CBDC Rolls Out to Two More Nations
December 08 2021 - 2:00PM
NEWSBTC
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) expanded its CBDC (DCash)
to two more nations of the commonwealth: Dominica and Montserrat.
Now, the digital version of the EC dollar has been rolled out in
seven out of all eight-member from ECCU countries. The Eastern
Caribbean dollar (EC$) is the currency used by the members of the
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and a central
bank’s pilot project rolled out the DCash as a digital version of
the currency that can be sent and received through a free app for
users based in any eastern Caribbean country that has launched the
CBDC. During the pilot period, the transactions are processed with
no transfer fees. The ECCB Governor Timothy N.J. Antoine expressed
that “the payment system should work for all, except for illicit
actors,” and DCash “must work for small states and small
businesses”. Antoine justified the existence of an Eastern
Caribbean CBDC as an advance in the digitalization of the economy
while noting that the current payment methods are “too slow and too
expensive”. Users do not need a bank account to access or use the
digital currency as the bank claims its top goals are “payments
system efficiency, financial inclusion of the unbanked and
underbanked populations, and increased resilience and
competitiveness in the ECCU.” All of these goals are aimed at
boosting economic growth, but ultimately at propelling our agenda
of socioeconomic transformation for the shared prosperity of the
people of our Currency Union. … we believe that to do that,
we have to transform the region, and DCash is an important
instrument in what is really the bigger conversation about the
buildout of a digital economy for our Currency Union, Related
Reading | The People’s Bank Of China’s Report On Blockchain
Tech And Their Upcoming CBDC How The Caribbean Can Benefit From
CBDCs Besides the geographical issues on cross-border payments that
Eastern Caribbean islands have faced for years, LatAm and the
Caribbean are the world’s second region most prone to natural
disasters, a study shows. In some cases, the damage has reached a
90% equivalent of a few countries’ PIB. Hurricanes and floods can
rule over almost half of the Caribbean’s year and most of these
nations have a limited capability of dealing with the situation.
The times of COVID and climate change have made them even more
vulnerable. There are many economic and social implications that
follow these events and one of them is that, amidst a natural
disaster, there is an important part of the population that cannot
reach banks to access money, which leads to even more
vulnerabilities. Enthusiasts have claimed that CBDCs like The
Bahama’s sand dollar and the ECCB’s Dcash could offer a viable
solution by making money more accessible as soon as users can enter
the platforms during periods of crisis, thus delivering financial
help packages faster. Several small countries have found themselves
in a bigger need to move towards digitalization. The DCash project
became the first currency union to use a CBDC and aims to reduce
50% of the use of physical cash by 2025. The ongoing twelve-month
pilot started in March of 2021 and is expected to “assess the
feasibility of a full commercial launch to all eight of their
member countries”. Related Reading | Central Bank of France
Tests Blockchain-Backed CBDC Targeting Debt Market
Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024