Bank of Jamaica Announces Completion of CBDC Pilot

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has taken a lead in the global CBDC ecosystem. Recently, the bank announced the successful completion of its CBDC pilot. In March 2021, the BOJ announced the testing of a prototype CBDC in its financial regulatory sandbox.

While other central banks around the world are still preparing for a CBDC pilot, the recent initiative shows that the Bank of Jamaica is on track to achieve its CBDC roll-out target of Q1 of 2022. Additionally, the bank outlined the progress of the CBDC pilot.

In August last year, the BOJ minted approximately $230 million worth of digital currency to be issued to deposit-taking institutions. During the same month, the BOJ issued nearly $1 million worth of CBDC to its banking department.

As the first issuance of digital currency to a deposit-taking institution, the BOJ issued almost $5 million worth of CBDC to NCB.

“NCB, the first wallet provider in the pilot, successfully onboarded 57 customers, which included 4 small merchants and 53 consumers. These customers conducted person-to-person, cash-in and cash-out transactions through 37 accounts and completed transactions with small merchants (local craft jewelers, footwear designers and fashion and garment boutiques) through an NCB-sponsored event, 'Market on the Lawn' held earlier in December 2021,” BOJ noted.

CBDC

Global central banks have accelerated their efforts regarding the development of CBDCs in the respective jurisdictions. While governments around the world are trying to introduce strict regulations around private cryptocurrencies, CBDCs received full support from relevant authorities. But, due to the nature of digital currencies and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), the issuance of CBDCs is taking time. In October 2021, G7 finance leaders outlined the CBDC guidelines.

“The National Roll-Out of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) is scheduled for 1st quarter 2022, whereby NCB will continue onboarding existing customers and new customers,” the Bank of Jamaica added.