Bahamas central bank prepares national Sand Dollar push this summer

The Bahamas is beginning a push for national digital currency adoption this summer, the central bank’s governor, John Rolle, said.

The Central Bank of the Bahamas is preparing a national push for its digital currency this summer to get more Bahamians signing up for the Sand Dollar.

In another move toward the adoption of the Bahamas’ central bank digital currency, the CBOB is now focused on connecting mobile Sand Dollar wallets with commercial banking systems, CBOB Governor John Rolle announced.

According to a Wednesday report by the Nassau Guardian, Rolle said that the Bahamian government has initiated a number of measures to prepare itself and the Sand Dollar ecosystem.

“There is a focus now on enrolling individuals on those various platforms. So we are literally at the cusp of beginning that push for national adoption and that is a focus that is going to gain attention and momentum as we move over the summer months,” Rolle stated.

The official noted that a number of financial institutions, including payment providers, have already integrated their mobile wallets with the Sand Dollar platform. “We know that among the payment providers they are now able to communicate with each other and send funds across the platform,” he said.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the Bahamas is one of the first jurisdictions to fully roll out a CBDC, officially rolling out a digital version of its national currency in October 2020. Despite countries like China aggressively piloting CBDCs, some reports have ranked the Bahamas’ CBDC as the top global state-backed digital currency in terms of retail applications.