CBDC News

Jamaica’s CBDC: Nearly Ready for Roll Out

The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), Natalie Haynes, has put its work on CBDCs in the context of the government’s financial inclusion strategy. The BOJ sees a CBDC as an important tool in allowing people to access financial services and products.

The Bank of Jamaica Act is being amended to that a CBDC is legal tender so that merchants can accept it with confidence since, unlike cryptocurrencies or stablecoins, CBDCs are backed by the central bank.

The BOJ will pursue a two-tier approach working with licensed deposit-taking institutions and payment service providers (PSPs) to issue the CBDCs. The BOJ has a FinTech regulatory sandbox where a number of PSPs are currently working.