Digital currency within the Eastern Caribbean

ECCB Governor Timothy Antoine has described the implementation of digital currency within the Eastern Caribbean as a step toward improve the ease of commercial exchange, while reducing the need for physical currency.

In February The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and  Barbados-based fintech company, Bitt Inc. (Bitt) came into a contractual agreement on launching a blockchain-issued Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).

This ECCB CBDC pilot , the first of its kind involves a securely minted and issued digital version of the EC dollar (DXCD). The digital EC dollar will be distributed and used by Licensed Financial Institutions and Non-Bank Financial Institutions in the ECCU.

The governor of the ECCB, Timothy N. J. Antoine, stressed that the pilot is not an “academic exercise.”

The stablecoin, DXCD, is intended for use in financial transactions between consumers and merchants and peer-to-peer transactions such as sending money to friends or family within the ECCU. Funds will be able to be sent using devices such as smartphones.