Podcast: reflecting on CBDC issuance in the Caribbean

The nature of the Caribbean region’s financial system makes it ripe for central bank digital currency (CBDC) issuance, says the co-founder of Bitt, Simon Chantry. 

Bitt provides the technology that underpins the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s (ECCB) CBDC, DCash, which went live in March 2021. 

Under the tagline “safer, faster, cheaper”, DCash provides members of the public with a digital version of the Eastern Caribbean dollar.

It is issued by the ECCB on “hyperledger fabric”, which is used to create the underlying blockchain system.

According to Chantry, the Caribbean region was at a stage where there was a need for an interbank system that would allow the various island nations to trade with one another in central bank money. 

Before the introduction of DCash, countries in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union were “burdened by the use of the US dollar” when it came to trading with one another, Chantry says. 

In Central Banking’s latest Partner in Focus podcast, Chantry explains how Bitt’s digital currency management system will help the region move one step closer to a “multilateral settlement system”. 

“The launch of [CBDC] infrastructure may not necessarily pay dividends right away, but it’s paving the way for a future that enables citizens and firms to have the lowest cost payments possible in the region,” he says. 

 

Index

00:00 Intro

01:05 Caribbean ripe for CBDC issuance

04:03 Is DCash meeting the ECCB’s objectives?

06:09 Addressing governance issues

09:00 Bitt’s Digital Currency Management System (DCMS)

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