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This new digital currency is intended to address the high cost of current payment methods and banking services, failure of banking services to meet many customers’ needs, and inefficient methods of settling cheque transactions. ECCB hopes to see the use of physical cash fall by 50% by 2025. ADVERTISEMENT
DCash is available for a year-long pilot project in Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis, which are four of the eight members of the Eastern
Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). ECCB officials hope to have rolled out DCash in the four remaining countries ‑ Anguilla, Dominica, Montserrat and St Vincent and the Grenadines ‑ by September this year.
Eastern Caribbean dollar goes digital, a help for unbanked
DÁNICA COTO, Associated Press
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) The Eastern Caribbean has created its own form of digital currency meant to help speed transactions and serve people without bank accounts.
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank said its “DCash” is the first such blockchain-based currency introduced by any of the world’s currency unions, though some individual nations have similar existing systems.
It became available Wednesday in four island nations under a yearlong pilot program: St. Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis.
“(It) is a milestone in the history of monetary instruments,” said Bitt CEO Brian Popelka during a press conference broadcast online.
Eastern Caribbean dollar goes digital, a help for unbanked go.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from go.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Eastern Caribbean has created its own form of digital currency meant to help speed transactions and serve people without bank accounts.
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank said its DCash is the first such blockchain-based currency introduced by any of the world’s currency unions, though some individual nations have similar existing systems.
It became available Wednesday, March 31, in a year-long pilot programme in four island nations: St. Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis.
DCash was created by Barbados-based fintech company Bitt in partnership with the central bank. Unlike cryptocurrencies, it is issued by an official central bank and has a fixed value, tied to the existing Eastern Caribbean dollar used across much of the region.
Barbados in partnership with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has created DCash for the Eastern Caribbean.
DCash was created by Barbados-based fintech company Bitt in partnership with the central bank. Unlike cryptocurrencies, it is issued by an official central bank and has a fixed value, tied to the existing Eastern Caribbean dollar used across much of the region.
The ECCB said its “DCash” is the first such blockchain-based currency introduced by any of the world’s currency unions, though some individual nations have similar existing systems. DCash has created its own form of digital currency meant to help speed transactions and serve people without bank accounts.