The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank will officially launch its digital currency — “DCash” — in Montserrat and Dominica on Tuesday. DCash is now available in seven countries, which form part of the East Caribbean economic bloc.
The bank is the first monetary union in the world to use a government-backed digital currency or CBDC (central bank digital currency), thanks to adopting DCash in March.
DCash digital currency increases resilience amid natural disasters and improves financial inclusion especially in places where access to physical cash is a great challenge.
DCash is popular as you can use it with or without a bank account, and even make real-time mobile transactions without incurring any extra costs.
Timothy Antoine, the Central Bank’s Governor, stated that the goal of DCash is to boost economic growth. “[The digital currency] is an important instrument in what is the bigger conversation about the build-out of a digital economy”.
Emerging global leaders in digital finance
Owing to their adoption of digital currencies, the Western Atlantic and Caribbean nations are slowly emerging as global leaders in digital finance.
DCash is a digital version of the Eastern Caribbean dollar (a CBDC or a digital fiat), and can’t be compared to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, which are valued for their independence and anonymity from monetary authorities.
Last year, the Bahamas launched “Sand Dollar”, the world’s first CBDC, ahead of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s “DCash”. Haiti and Jamaica will also join the crypto bandwagon soon. Plans are underway for the launching of their digital currencies.
Anguilla is next in line
Besides Montserrat and Dominica, DCash is already being used across other small island nations including Grenadines, Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, and Antigua and Barbuda.
The central bank of the Eastern Caribbean is planning to launch the digital currency in the bloc’s remaining member nation, Anguilla.
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank partnered with Bitt, an international Fintech company, to design and launch DCash — the only government-backed digital currency to be issued publicly within a formal currency union.
Antoine was the first to transact in DCash when it was officially unveiled. He sent $100 in DCash from the comfort of the central bank’s headquarters in St. Kitts to DCash wallet holders across three pilot nations — Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada.
Transacting DCash across the small island nations involved massive collaborations with Bitt, the Central Bank, and multiple external stakeholders. And it took two years of planning, merchant acquisition, operational training, software development, and more.
