The Bank of Jamaica has completed its first central bank digital currency targeting a national rollout in the first quarter of 2022.
After proceeding with initial CBDC prototype testing , Jamaica’s central bank finished an eight-month-long pilot last Friday. As part of the pilot, the BoJ minted 230 million Jamaican dollars ($1.5 million) worth of the CBDC for issuance to deposit-taking institutions and authorized payment service providers on Aug. 9, 2021.
The central bank then issued 1 million JMD ($6,500) worth of digital currency to the staff at BoJ’s banking department. The bank also issued 5 million JMD ($32,000) worth of CBDC to the National Commercial Bank (NCB), one of the largest financial institutions in Jamaica.
NCB was the first wallet provider in Jamaica’s CBDC pilot, onboarding 57 customers including four small merchants and 53 consumers. Customers were able to conduct person-to-person, cash-in and cash-out transactions at an NCB-sponsored event.
The BoJ now plans to proceed with a nationwide rollout in Q1 2022, expecting to add two new wallet providers.
