The Central Bank of the Bahamas recently has announced about official launching of a state-backed virtual currency.
Now is available to all Bahama residents - 393,000 people. This move made makes The Bahamas the first country in the world to officially roll out a CBDC. The idea of new central Digital Currency is to provide citizens with better financial services. The Bahamas is an island nation with special geographical features and it is highly important to provide digital and secure financial services there, especially when transportation can be an inconvenience for many, especially the elderly, and costly.
As for other countries, China was also involved into CBDC, they were testing a program with digital yuan. Cambodia government also announced that they are expecting ’s “Bakong” digital currency to be launched in the coming months. But only The Bahamas launched it officially beyond a pilot program.
Sand Dollar transfers are made by mobile phone and support digital payments.
According to the Sand Dollar website, The Bahamas residents can use the digital currency at any merchant “with a Central Bank approved e-Wallet on their mobile device” and transaction fees are “negligible.”
According to officials, the provider is NZIA, responsible for all transactions as well as the rollout of the digital currency.
How did it start
The central bank of the Bahamas has been preparing CBDC for a few years first with its pilot program using 48,000 digital Sand Dollars on the islands of Exuma and Abaco. Each Sand Dollar was pegged to the Bahamian dollar, which is in turn pegged to the U.S. dollar.
How it can be used
The sand dollar will not pay interest and cannot be held non-domestically. That’s mean that people outside or not domiciled in the Bahamas cannot be directly paid using the sand dollar. However, it can be used for all wholesale and retail transactions domestically. The sand dollar can be used 24/7/365 in disconnected settings and bear very low transaction fees.
Never has the importance of technology been greater in financial services. All new trends and innovations are building winning strategies for banking system. What do you think about new Central Bank Digital Currency of Bahamas? Leave your opinion in comments below! If you have your question, please write it below, I would be glad to answer your questions or to introduce your project to my team at Astorts Group to be evaluated.
Alessandro Rocco Pietrocola is an entrepreneur and investor based in London and operating mainly in Europe, Asia and Oceania with main focus on UK, Baltic Countries, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Middle East and New Zealand as area of interest! At the moment is the CEO of Astorts Group. He is an UK FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) Approved Person and is has great experience as director of regulated companies. He uses to dedicate part of his life to inspire others and help them achieve the most out of their life. Since he was 20, he had successfully founded and managed several companies operating in the field of management consulting, wealth management and fintech. He loves travelling, he is a cigars lover, an amateur golfer and a dapper man.