Following the announcement of an intended pilot program slated for May 2021, Jamaica’s Central Bank has now minted its first batch of the nation’s new official digital currency.
The pilot program, set to run until December this year, will feature the issue of J$230,000,000 (equivalent to around 1,500,00 USD at the time of writing) for deposit-taking institutions and authorised payment service providers.
Over a year in the making, the Jamaican government had been working closely with Ireland-based technology firm eCurrency Mint on the project since early 2020.
The primary impetus behind this move was to transition Jamaica to a digital economy as swiftly as possible in wake of the damage caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In a formal ceremony conducted in August, Jamaican Finance Minister, Dr. Nigel Clarke, emphasised the rapid pace at which the digital currency program had progressed, and promised that a legislative amendment to accompany it would be put in place before the end of the current fiscal year.
Following the ceremony, Clarke stated on Twitter:
“CBDC offers a more secure, more efficient form of currency that offers the potential of significantly broadening financial inclusion. Along with national identification, the CBDC will form the foundation of the digital transformation of our society(...)”
Praise was also given by eCurrency CEO, Jonathan Dharmapalan, hailing Jamaica’s CBDC project as the fastest in the world due to the pace of the rollout.
01 September, 2021 | #Cryptonews
Jamaica Mints First Round of CBDCs
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Fraud is a huge problem today. Each year, millions of people worldwide are thought to be a victim of identity theft each and every year, in addition to insurmountable amounts of profits lost by businesses for similar reasons. It is why many governments around the world have introduced various Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) laws to counteract this. It is extremely likely that you have had to verify your identity - by providing a copy of your driving licence, passport or identity card – when applying for services or buying goods online (especially financial products and services). This process causes problems for both individuals and businesses. For individuals, it can take many hours or even days to become verified, by which time you may not need the product or service anymore or have found another quicker alternative. Likewise, for businesses to check the identity of all customers in such detail is very time consuming, costly and harms conversion rates. Verify Once has been built to solve these issues. We know it can be frustrating to keep verifying your identity with each new company you wish to buy products from or whose services you wish to use. Especially when this process can take many hours or even days, leaving you without the product or service you need - perhaps desperately. The reason why we created Verify Once was to reduce the time and need to go through the verification process with multiple companies online and keep providing the same documentation again and again. This is why Verify Once does exactly as its name indicates. All you have to do is verify once, and you will never have to verify again in the Dagcoin ecosystem. But what do you need to do to verify yourself once and for all, and how long does it take? Getting verified with Verify Once is a quick and easy process that takes just a couple of minutes. All you have to do is enter your personal details, and upload a copy of a valid identity document as well as proof of address. Hit submit and you will receive an answer in just 60 seconds. Once your documents have been verified, they will be connected to the email address you registered on the Verify Once platform. To ensure that you and you alone have access, your account will be password protected. Meaning that only you have access to your verification data, all approved accounts with different companies/websites, and the possibility to apply for verified accounts with new businesses whose products you wish to buy or whose services you wish to use. Verify once - and never go through verification again in the Dagcoin ecosystem with any merchant that accepts VerifyOnce. But it isn’t just individuals that are at risk. Ecommerce, online gaming, and even social media companies are at high risk. 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Verify Once processes and verifies customers, so you don’t have to. Saving you both time and money. At the same time meeting, all necessary Know Your Customer regulations. This is done by using state of the art technology which is fast, secure, automated, and integrated with artificial intelligence. Meaning that as criminals adapt and improve, so will the system. Conclusion Fraud costs both individuals and businesses around the world billions each and every year. This is why governments around the world have introduced various Know Your Customer and Anti Money Laundering Laws. This means as individuals you are often asked to confirm your identity by providing a copy of your ID, driving licence or passport when buying products or applying for services online. Businesses ask for this information not just to meet these regulations, but to keep you safe and prevent revenue losses to fraud. 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