Bahamas central bank to make Sand Dollar go global. The Central Bank of the Bahamas (CBOB) aims to make the digital currency project of its central bank interoperable at the international level.
Local news agency the Nassau Guardian reported on Oct. 15 that Bobby Chen, CBOB assistant manager of electronic solutions, says that the digital currency of the Bahamas called the “Sand Dollar” could ultimately be interoperable with other global currencies,
Chen said, “At the moment, it is currently only used in a domestic setting, but eventually we are working on a solution that will make it interoperable with other global currencies.”
In addition to incorporating the real-time gross settlement and Automated Clearing House, Cleopatra Davis, head of banking at the CBOB, also said that the interoperability of the Sand Dollar with other wallets is a key strategy. This will allow the movement of the Sand Dollar to and from user bank accounts, according to Davis, which will further facilitate fiat conversions.
Davis further noted that a major component of the national rollout scheduled for Oct. 20 would be the API card-less onboarding. The executive outlined that the process became “extremely important during the time of COVID-19” because it allows users to access the Sand dollar without needing any physical interactions.
The latest news comes after previous reports of the CBOB ‘s intentions to introduce the currency in October across the whole archipelago. The Sand Dollar programme was initiated in 2019, with the CBDC on the small islands of Exuma and Abaco being tried by the government in December of that year.
[image: Fernando Jorge]
