This Caribbean Country Moves Towards Commercial Roll Out Of A Digital Currency

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. March 30, 2021: Another Caribbean country is moving closer to a commercial rolling out of its own digital currency this year.

The Central Bank of The Bahamas says it has developed and circulated draft Regulations for the commercial roll out in May of its digital currency, The Sand Dollar.

The draft regulations are intended to enhance the existing legislative framework governing Payment Services Providers (PSPs), specific to their provision of central bank digital currency (CBDC) linked services.

These include specific obligations to safeguard the security of the financial market infrastructure, affirmed obligations around the financial integrity (AML/CFT) of digital currency transactions, and intensive focus on financial inclusion and consumer protection.

After the consultation period closes tomorrow, March 31, 2021, the Bank says it will finalize the Regulations for issuance by May 1, 2021.

The Central Bank began the gradual national release of the Bahamian digital currency in October 2020. Since then, participating financial institutions have worked to integrate their proprietary mobile applications (apps) to the Sand Dollar infrastructure. As of mid-March, nine PSPs – the Authorized Financial Institutions (AFIs) – have completed cybersecurity assessments of their technology systems and have been cleared to distribute the CBDC. They are: four money transmission businesses (MTBs), three payment services institutions, one commercial bank, and one credit union. These institutions are either enabled to offer Sand Dollars through their proprietary mobile wallets or through the Central Bank developed app.

The Central Bank is working with PSPs to achieve the interoperability of all proprietary mobile apps. Interoperability means that businesses and individuals would be able to send and receive funds with any other digital wallet once the transaction is in Sand Dollars. Payment providers that adopted the Central Bank app already satisfy interoperability, while institutions that are using proprietary apps are expected to meet a deadline of March 31, 2021.

The Central Bank expects to imminently complete the technical integration of the digital infrastructure with the commercial banking system. This will establish links between wallets and bank deposit accounts, through the Bahamas Automated Clearing House (the ACH), and allow transfer of funds in both directions. As participants in the ACH, commercial banks also play a direct role, as the respective online wire transfer platforms are being updated to accommodate these transactions. The ACH has established protocols to be followed for such updates.