The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) recently revealed that it has successfully completed a central bank digital assets (CBDC) trial. The disclosure was announced after the BOJ implemented an 8-month trial that began in May 2021.
However, a day before 2022 materialized, the BOJ revealed that only one institution was participating in the pilot project. The fact explains;
The scope of the CBDC pilot is limited to wallet providers who have indicated their willingness to participate within the scheduled timeframe. National Commercial Bank [NCB] which has experience in Sandbox came with the BOJ to test the range of services to be offered using the CBDC solution.
The statement also explained that the success of the pilot project "depends on whether the CBDC along with technology solutions can be successfully implemented in Jamaica."
The statement revealed that three stages have been successfully implemented during the pilot phase. The first of these stages is to print a $ 230 million CBDC "for distribution to deposit -taking institutions and authorized payment service providers." A day after printing digital assets on August 9, 2021, the BOJ then issued a $ 1 million CBDC which was distributed to bank employees.
Subsequently, on October 29, 2021, a CBDC worth approximately $ 5 million was issued to NCB and this marked the first issuance of CBDC to a deposit-taking institution in Jamaica. After receiving the crypto assets, NCB then "managed to attract 57 customers including 4 small traders and 53 consumers."
The next stage is the testing of one -to -one transactions. A total of 37 accounts involving various parties were sponsored by NCB.
Following all this, the BOJ revealed that they will launch the CBDC nationally as early as the first quarter of 2022. With this, during that period NCB was the only authorized payment service provider participating in the project.
