The government of Jamaica announced on Friday that it will launch its central bank digital currency in the first quarter of 2022, following a successful pilot.
Following the announcement of a CBDC prototype in March, piloting began in May and ended in December. Bank of Jamaica partnered with digital currency vendor eCurrency Mint. The country’s National Commercial Bank has also been part of the pilot to test the range of services to be offered.
Services tested included issuing $1.5 million worth of CBDCs, issuing them to wallet providers, and distributing digital currencies to retail customers. During the pilot, the National Commercial Bank (UTB) became the first wallet provider to be issued a CBDC, recruiting 53 consumers in addition to four small merchants.
A CBDC is a type of central bank liability similar to a digitally issued currency that can be used by the general public. It has the full backing of the central bank but can be administered by designated private financial institutions.
According to the Atlantic Council, 87 countries are currently researching their own CBDCs, and 14 are in the pilot phase, including major economies such as China and South Korea. Nine countries have already made it available. In addition, among the countries with the four largest central banks (Fed, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan and Bank of England), the USA lags behind in CBDC.