Bank of Jamaica Successfully Completes CBDC Trial, Rollout Scheduled for Q1 2022

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has recently completed its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot with eCurrency Mint. The project will be rolled out in the first quarter of 2022 with the onboarding of more users and two extra wallet providers.

Another Nation Opts For a CBDC

Jamaica has joined the Bahamas and Ukraine and a handful of other countries that are implementing a CBDC into their monetary system.

According to a release from the Jamaica Information Service, the BOJ concluded its CBDC pilot on December 31.

As part of the pilot, the BOJ minted 230 million Jamaican dollars (JMD), or about US$1.5 million, for 57 customers by way of person-to person, cash-in and cash-out transactions through 37 accounts. This was all done at an event sponsored by the National Commercial Bank (NCB), one of the ​​island nation’s largest financial institutions.

For the pilot, BOJ used Irish cryptography security firm eCurrency Mint as the provider for its digital currency project after opening applications in July 2020. The scope of the pilot was limited to digital wallet providers who indicated readiness to participate within the timeframe.

National Rollout Ready to Go

As the roll-out commences, NCB will continue to bring on new customers, as well as add two other wallet providers who are currently in the virtual simulation testing phase.

As countries find more use cases for CBDCs this may turn out to be the year of central bank issued digital currency, with both Brazil and Peru potentially looking to introduce CBDCs in 2022.