The Bahamas Will Launch a Digital Currency Pilot Tomorrow

The Bahamas' digital currency pilot project goes live in Exuma on Friday.

Central bankers announced the debut on Christmas Eve.Bankers insisted that "Sand Dollar" is a "Digital fiat currency" - not a cryptocurrency, stablecoin or competitor to the Bahamian Dollar.

Instead, it is simply a digital version "Equivalent in every respect to the paper currency," they said in the project outline.

It is also a step toward the Bahamas' long-term goal of launching a fully-fledged central bank digital currency.

Also called the sand dollar, that larger project would link domestic residents and businesses across a seamless digital payment infrastructure.

In this vision, residents can pay retailers through wallet-linked QR codes, with banks moving funds in digital form.

The Central Bank believes this could ultimately cut currency printing costs and transaction fees while enhancing financial inclusion.

Businesses cannot hold more than $1 million in their digital wallets, nor can they transact more than one-eighth of their annual business through the wallets in any given month.

The Bahamas' retail-focused digital currency comes as more and more governments toy with launching CBDC schemes of their own.

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