The central bank of Bahamas has unveiled the “Sand dollar”- a taste backed virtual currency now available nationwide. The announcement was made on October 20 on Facebook by the project sand dollar account at 10 PM UTC.
The announcement meant that the Bahamas is the world’s first country to officially rollout a CBDC. The new CBDC will be available to all of the country’s citizens and will become part of Bahamian daily life.
The sand dollar will be operational immediately with transfers by phone possible. Mobile transfers should pick up quite quickly with about 90 per cent of the population using mobile phones as of 2017. The sand dollar will be operational immediately with transfers by phone possible.
Mobile transfers should pick up quite quickly with about 90 per cent of the population using mobile phones as of 2017. The sand dollar will be accepted by all merchants, “with a Central Bank approved e-Wallet on their mobile device” and transaction fees are “negligible.”
Long time coming
The Bahamian top bank has been gearing up for the launch of a CBDC for a few years. The road to the unveiling was made by pilot programs such as the one’s done on the islands of Exuma and Abaco. The pilot saw 48000 digital sand dollars being used on a combined population of about 25,000 people.
Promote financial inclusion
The sand dollar has been designed to help drive greater financial inclusion. According to the Central Bank of the Bahamas; “access to digital payment infrastructure or banking infrastructure” for under banked and unbanked residents”.
The central bank also revealed that the rollout was made possible by technology solutions provider NZIA and that the digital dollar would be pegged on the U.S dollar.
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