Skip to main content

CBDC – Jamaica becomes first country to legalize centralized cryptocurrency

 


The Central Bank of Jamaica officially recognized the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) “Jam-Dex” as legal tender.


Jamaica was the first country in the world to introduce a centralized cryptocurrency as legal tender. With the digital central bank currency, the government wants to offer an alternative in the cash-based economy of the country.


The Jamaican Senate reportedly authorized the country's central bank to issue the CBDC - known as the Jamaica Digital Exchange or Jam-Dex. According to Bank of Jamaica Governor Richard Byles, Jam-Dex will officially launch for domestic use later this month. Byles explained to Blockworks:


"The digital Jamaican dollar offers a safer and more convenient alternative to physical notes and coins and can be used without a bank account."


The digital Jamaican dollar has been in a pilot phase since August last year. BeInCrypto reported earlier this year that the centralized cryptocurrency should be launched in the first quarter of 2022 . However, delays in development meant that the launch was pushed back to the second quarter.


Jamaica-Dex: A “Very Powerful Cryptocurrency”

Some companies and institutions in the country are actively promoting the development of the new centralized cryptocurrency . The CBDC technology company eCurrency, for example, supports the current development. Jonathan Dharmapalan, the company's CEO, explains:


“Jamaica lawmakers have now unanimously approved the launch of a digital dollar in Jamaica. This can be used to pay off any debt in Jamaica. The (digital) Jamika dollar is the medium of exchange in the country. And it serves as the unit of account for Jamaica.”


It is also important that countries recognize that their money can be in digital form: “Because it is digital, you don't have to be in the same place at the same time to carry out a transaction... It's a very, very powerful tool. ”


According to the Jamaica Observer news magazine , the JMMB Group, a financial services company, plans to introduce a number of new products for the Jamaican dollar. These include, for example, point-of-sale solutions, e-commerce products and new payment solutions that are intended to facilitate the introduction of the Jam-Dex.


In addition, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) is also promoting the country's new cryptocurrency with the Lynk wallet , as the news magazine reports.

Will more countries adopt CBDCs?

According to the Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker , there are currently 105 countries that are researching or developing a CBDC, representing more than 95% of global GDP. According to the tracker, ten countries are already developing a CBDC. These include Nigeria, the Bahamas with their "Sand Dollar" and several Caribbean island states. Jamaica is the first country to legalize a CBDC as a means of payment.


The pilot projects for the digital yuan in China are planned to continue until 2023. Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen and six cities in Zhejiang Province entered the pilot program in April. The US is well behind other countries in developing its own central bank digital currency, as policymakers and the central bank are reluctant to push the development forward.


Many have already criticized the risks that such a cryptocurrency can entail. Banks and governments could abuse central bank digital currencies, gain far more control and use the technology to monitor and direct people's money flows.


Disclaimer

All information contained on our website has been researched to the best of our knowledge and belief. The journalistic contributions are for general information purposes only. Any action that the reader takes based on the information found on our website is entirely at their own risk.

My Top Picks
Honeygain - Passive earner that pays in BTC or PayPal
MandalaExchange -The Best no KYC crypto Exchange! 
BetFury - Play And Earn BFG for daily Bitcoin and ETH dividends!
Pipeflare - Faucet that pays in ZCash and Matic, Games pay in DAI
Womplay - Mobile dApp gaming platform that rewards in EOS and Bitcoin
Cointiply - The #1 Crypto Earning Site
Torum - Join the latest Social Network and earn TRM for Free! 
LiteCoinPay - The #1 FaucetPay earner for Litecoin 
LBRY/Odysee - YouTube Alternative that lets you earn Money by viewing videos!
FaucetPay - The #1 Microwallet Platform
FREEBTC - The #1 FaucetPay earner for Satoshi's
FaucetCrypto - An earning/faucet site that pays out instantly
FireFaucet - An earning site that pays better for some than Cointiply
DogeFaucet - Dogecoin Faucet
xFaucet - BTC, ETH, LTC, Doge, Dash, Tron, DGB, BCH, BNB, ZEC, FEY - Claim every 5 minutes
Konstantinova - BTC, ETH, LTC, Doge, Dash, Tron, DGB, BNB, ZEC, USDT, FEY, 25 Claims Daily

Comments

  1. TutsumiJune 10, 2022 at 6:36 AM

    The Bahamas already has theirs out as the first country. It's already been out for people to use for some time now.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From offchain to offchain: Statechains meets Lightning

  Without a doubt, the most significant off-chain Bitcoin solution is the Lightning network. But in its wake, the statechain has emerged as an intriguing replacement. There is currently a proposal to link the two offchain networks. From an ocean, for example, you can see sunbeams glistening in the water, waves rippling, and possibly a jellyfish drifting toward the light. But you only see a small portion of it. The distance from the sea's surface to its bottom is hundreds of meters. It has dozens of different fish species swimming in it, crabs and starfish crawling on the bottom, shells clinging to rocks, and sea plants climbing up. A completely new world starts where your gaze diverges. You can picture a blockchain like Bitcoin, just like the sea. What you see on the outside is only a small portion of what is actually there; the set of UTXOs (coins) and transaction history that full nodes store are just the beginning of a much larger world. It's the plan, at least. With Bitcoin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Phishing attack on popular crypto sites tries to empty wallets

  Several major crypto sites such as Etherscan, CoinGecko, DeFi Pulse, and others report malicious pop-ups scammers use to try to trick users into connecting their MetaMask wallets. The phishing attack came from a domain displaying the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) logo. "We are investigating the root cause of this attack to fix the threat as soon as possible," CoinGecko founder Bobby Ong tweeted. The phishing attack appears to have been triggered by a malicious ad script from Coinzilla, a crypto ad network, according to CoinGecko. Etherscan also advises its users not to confirm any transactions that may appear on the website. The attackers attempted to use the hype around the “bored monkeys” non-fungible tokens (NFT) to gain access to the cryptocurrencies of unsuspecting website visitors. Although the websites affected by the scam attempt have reacted in the last few hours and deactivated the advertising pop-up, it is still recommended not to connect your MetaMask wallet to ne...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs stolen through phishing on Instagram

  Bored Ape Yacht Club ( BAYC ) developers announced on Monday that hackers have hijacked the official Instagram page of the popular NFT collection and posted links to a fake airdrop. Crypto enthusiasts who connected their MetaMask wallet to the rogue website subsequently had their Ape NFTs stolen. Apparently, the attack was planned to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the BAYC collection. This increased the "perceived credibility" of the phishing link. About 100 NFTs are said to have been stolen in the phishing attack . According to CoinGecko data , the minimum price for a BAYC NFT is 139 Ether ( ETH ) or $400,726. So if reports are correct, over $40 million worth of NFTs were stolen in the attack. These numbers are only the lowest estimate, however, as they are based on the lowest price.  At the time of writing, it was still unclear how the hackers gained access to BAYC's official Instagram account. Social media users have pointed out the importance of two-fact...
Post a Comment
Read more