Categories: Global Adoption

Bahamas to Mandate Banks to Support Digital Currency

The Bahamas is set to introduce regulations mandating commercial banks to facilitate access to its central bank digital cy (CBDC), the Sand Dollar. 

The Central Bank Governor John Rolle stated that the development is intended to support the continued use of the digital cy which was launched in 2020 but has not been applied.

Despite pioneering the issuance of a CBDC, the Bahamas has observed that the Sand Dollar constitutes less than 1% of the nation’s cy in circulation. The latest figures indicate a significant decrease in wallet top-ups, from $49.8 million in the previous year to just $12 million in the recent 8 months.

According to reports, the forthcoming regulations will require banks to integrate the Sand Dollar into their operations within two years. Other countries like Nigeria and Jamaica have encountered similar challenges with CBDC adoption. 

The Bahamian approach is different from the strategies in countries like India which provides a cash-back option for the use of digital cy and Israel which came up with the proposal of setting interest rates for holding of CBDCs.

Terron Gold

Recent Posts

S&P Global Acquires OpenZeppelin as Wall Street Pushes Deeper Onchain

S&P Global has agreed to acquire smart contract security company OpenZeppelin, bringing one of blockchain’s…

3 days ago

House Advances Sweeping Crypto Tax Bill After CLARITY Act Setback

Less than 24 hours after the CLARITY Act failed to clear its Senate procedural hurdle,…

4 days ago

Circle Launches Arc Mainnet With BlackRock and Visa as Validators

Circle has officially launched the public mainnet of Arc, its new Layer 1 blockchain built…

4 days ago

House Panel Advances Bill to Lock U.S. Bitcoin Reserve Into Law For 20 Years

U.S. lawmakers have advanced legislation that would turn President Donald Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve from…

4 days ago

Pixelmon Shuts Down Game Development After Years of Trying to Recover

Pixelmon is officially ending game development and laying off its gaming team after an external…

4 days ago

CLARITY Act Stalls After Senate Vote Falls Short

The CLARITY Act suffered a major setback in the U.S. Senate after lawmakers failed to…

5 days ago