Jamaican digital currency coming in 2022, Prime Minister Holness says

Jamaica’s prime minister said the country is on track to launch its own e-currency this year, as the island joins the ranks of those embracing digital currency.

“The Bank of Jamaica will roll out our own digital Jamaican dollar in 2022 after a successful pilot during 2021,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness wrote on Twitter, echoing a speech made by the island’s governor general.

“This will serve as a foundation for Jamaica’s digital payments architecture and will facilitate greater financial inclusion, increase transaction velocity while reducing the cost of banking for the Jamaican people,” Holness added.

In January, Holness told Bloomberg Television that the rollout of the central bank digital currency, or CBDC, would occur in the first quarter of 2022, but no firm date has been set yet.

Jamaica joins the Bahamas and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank in creating digital currency. Unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, CBDCs are government-backed digital versions of the local currency.