Research Officer, Strategic Planning and Projects Department, ECCB, Kieran St. Omer has said that The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has embarked upon a digital currency pilot project in four Caribbean country’s namely Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St.Lucia and St.Kitts and Nevis.
She made this statement via video conference at a media Informational Session on ECCB Digital EC Currency (DXCD) Project at the ECCB Agency office at the Financial Centre on Friday, June 19th, 2019.
St. Omer said digital currency is a legal tender, digital version of the EC dollar.
“The ECCB has embarked upon a digital currency pilot project. With the currency digital pilot we are going to focus key components where we will be focusing on an issuance of highly secure digital currency…payment and transfers within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) territories , be it domestic or regional persons, will be able to get involved in real-time payment processing…you may no longer need the use of a bank,” she said
The project will be mainly deployed within at least four pilot countries.
“We’ve selected Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St.Lucia and St.Kitts and Nevis and those selections were made based on interest from finical institutions within the region. We will be developing pilot, the actual use of the digital currency over a 6 month period in a controlled environment,” St. Omer explained
She said currently the ECCU is in the 5th month of the development and exploration phase in these countries adding that the the digital currency pilot’s key objectives are to create value in banking and protecting customer data among others.
She further stated that blockchain technology will also be used to benefit persons in data handling and to enable customer trust.
A blockchain is a continuously growing list of digital records in packages (called blocks) which are linked and secured using cryptography.
“The ECCB responsibilities are not just financial stability but also we are also interested and charged with economic growth and development of the ECCU, the ECCB Official stated. “Blockchain technology is one of the key benefits in data handling and trust. It helps in intermediation and can provide high value opportunities in retail banking… fraud prevention and risk scoring of customers.”
She added, “Everyday, we use money to cover our transactions…if we need to take transportation to home or even to work you need to use your EC dollar and that is a means by which the ECCB has seen we can increase penetration of cutting edge technology not only within the finical system but also our young generation who are very tuned to the use of technology and through all classes of society.”
St. Omer went on to say that any sort of criminal activity that may occur on the network would be easily identifiable because of alerts, transaction limits and risk scoring.
She claims that digital currency would bring tremendous benefits which will help persons to ensure that they build resilience not only within the finical system but in terms of making businesses more competitive and bringing value to customers of the ECCU.
The ECCB plans on reducing the use of cash by 50% and cheques by 80% by the year 2025 and beyond.
The ECCB Central Bank Digital Currency pilot is the first of its kind and the DXCD plans on being world ‘s first legal tender digital currency to be issued by a central bank on blockchain.
Sigh must of you all are misinformed about blockchain and cryptocurrencies and what they really are and what they are meant to do and replace it’s a radical change from traditional forms of currency etc it’s meant to be decentralized not controlled by any government or central entity, I suggest you all read the original whitepaper of bitcoin https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
Some are saying they got burned by bitcoin, that’s because as of late people are merely speculating on it and looking at it to get rich quick that’s not what bitcoin is meant to be….
What we see here is inevitable. Currency is being quickly devalued, and will result in the world embracing simpler means of cash transactions. Currency presently is not backed by gold or precious metals which has real intrinsic value. Fractional reserve banking strategies will lead us into another era of money/currency exchange. Money is taking a form where it can be easily controlled on a global scale. India has done it through AADHAAR, also China, who
actually has social credit scores too! Welcome to the new world.
Echoes of the word of GOD! read .Rev 13:17
I remember when Bitcoin was mentioned in Dominica, the very same technology from with blockchain tech was conceptualized people thought it was scam and cried it down, oh look now everyone dumping on the bandwagon…. smh
@ derp,……This version of Bitcoin is more than a scam. It is a conspiracy and should not be embraced by the governments. If it was straight up the people involved would have formed a private company like a stock exchange. I know a few people who got burnt by Bitcoin.
Legal tender currencies are based on the performance of the economy and are usually pegged to a strong and stable currency like the USA dollar or the British pound. You just cant print money or virtualize it because it can become worthless.
During WW2 Hitler printed money which became so worthless that cigarettes was used instead of cash.
What these people are proposing is certainly not acceptable because it will lead to government bankruptcy.
Its like a central bank being controlled by a stock market. Its like the USA treasury being controlled by Wall Street.
The only association this has with bitcoin is it utilizing blockchain tech which came as a result of bitcoin, the USA dollar isn’t backed by anything (it used to be backed by gold) they print money ‘black is white’ whenever they want to ( or rather need to raise their debt ceiling, just look at how much debt the US is accumulating)… The only thing that is holding it up is trust, you trust that it will be accepted when you go to exchange it for value… if you all don’t want to read and educate yourself on bitcoin by reading about it (https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf), it’s pointless addressing your inaccuracies on the matter…
This is far from being bitcoin.
All the bank is doing is cutting down its cost of doing business by going digital.
true, but they are using blockchain technology which came from bitcoin… the ECCB is utilizing the IBM Hyper Ledger Fabric which is based on blockchain tech… but ye it’s far from bitcoin in that it most likely will be a stablecoin I wonder if you will get interest by holding your own money in digital form, instead of storing it in the bank (I doubt it though)
Hyperledger isn’t really a proper blockchain, so this isn’t really that exciting to me. But I agree that it’s likely to hold value on par with the E.C. dollars in your pocket.
Bitcoin is a fickle investment, much different from the idea of block chain as a digital currency.
Bitcoin is legit. The company that was going to do the bitdrop was the problem. That company is pretty much nonexistent today. That should tell you everything. It’s not just about the technology it’s about who’s doing it. Banks understand that. That is why despite them constantly trying to smear bitcoin and it’s use, all of them are secretly doing cryptocurrency projects and calling it “digital currency” to try to make it sound like something different from bitcoin when all they’re doing is using the same blockchain technology that was pioneered by bitcoin.
At any rate all this means is that there is definitely confidence in the viability of cryptocurrency. I’m definitely going to get some more satoshis now!
As long as you dont force us to use that curency at some time. I dont trust it, there is no clear overview and it can be easily used for transactions that can not stand the light of day. Big thumb down for that one from me.
@ Pipo,…….This is a version of Bitcoin. I do not think its legal tender but its like speculation in the stock market, a private sector activity . I think Oliver Seraphine was trying to introduce it into Dominica without success.
Has this matter been settled by the Governments of the ECCM. This matter should not be pursued by the ECCB which is a governmental organization ,should not be a public sector (Government) activity . These people are crossing the line of authority by using the ECCB to push a personal matter that does not belongs in the activities of public financing. I look at it as a conflict of interest practice.
Replacing cash and checks with it to make it legal tender is a no no because it will crash and economy of the islands will experience depression with no recovery . It would be very dangerous if this matter is embraced by the islands. All the islands should distance themselves from this venture. In the Bitcoin experience no country made it legal tender.
As opposed to being forced to use fiat currency that is based on thin air, which leaves no trail when it changes hands, can be used to fund terrorism, traffic drugs and all other nefarious activities and which can easily be forged or stolen? BIG THUMBS DOWN. Crypto is the future whether you boomers like it or not.