The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is set to pilot its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) in August this year, the Jamaica Observer reports. The watchdog will reportedly pilot the CBDC with a National Commercial Bank (NCB) where customers could test the new currency.
Bank of Jamaica Governor, Richard Byles, says the regulator is currently reviewing all the technical sides of the system before the pilot.
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"As we work through the technical minting of the currency, we have to test it rigorously as a pilot and that we will do in August," Byles added.
The BOJ Governor hopes the central bank will expand the list of supported local financial institutions for its pilot in September to December. Byles highlighted the CBDC will not be issued directly from the BOJ to customer. Instead, the digital currency will only be sold to licensed commercial banks, deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) and payment service providers.
In April 2019, the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) joined the pool of stock exchanges that allow traditional investors to trade cryptocurrencies. This became possible thanks to the execution of a historic Master Agreement with Blockstation, a Canada-based fintech company. The JSE said Blockstation offers trading and settlement of cryptocurrencies and security tokens.
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