BUSINESS
NEWS
ECCB to Issue
World’s First
Blockchain-
based Digital
Currency
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
(ECCB) and the Barbados-based
fintech company, Bitt Inc. (Bitt),
have signed a contract to conduct
a blockchain-issued Central Bank
Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot within
the Eastern Caribbean Currency
Union (ECCU).
The watershed contract was signed
on 21 February at the ECCB’s
Headquarters in Basseterre, St Kitts
and Nevis.
This ECCB CBDC pilot is the first of
its kind and will involve a securely
minted and issued digital version of
the EC dollar (DXCD). The digital EC
dollar will be distributed and used
by Licensed Financial Institutions
and Non-Bank Financial Institutions
in the ECCU. The DXCD will be used
for financial transactions between
consumers and merchants,
including peer-to-peer transactions,
all using smart devices. For
example, an individual in St Kitts
and Nevis will be able to send DXCD
securely from his/her smartphone
to a friend in Grenada in seconds -
and at no cost to either party.
The Governor of the ECCB, Timothy
Antoine, emphasised that in
contrast to previous CBDC research
and experiments, the ECCB is
going a step further. “This is not
an academic exercise. Not only will
the digital EC Dollar be the world’s
first digital legal tender currency
to be issued by a central bank on
blockchain but this pilot is also
a live CBDC deployment with a
view to an eventual phased public
rollout. The pilot is part of the
ECCB’s Strategic Plan 2017-2021
which aims to help reduce cash
usage within the ECCU by 50 per
cent, promote greater financial
sector stability, and expedite the
growth and development of our
member countries. It would be a
game-changer for the way we do
business”.
CEO of Bitt Inc., Rawdon Adams,
said, “I thank the ECCB for choosing
Bitt. Our mission is the practical
application of cutting-edge
technology to solve persistent
financial problems. It is about
a successful currency union
building on its impressive record of
financial stability, development and
integration to deliver a quantum
improvement to the lives of all
its 630,000 citizens. Enhancing
economic growth and the quality of
life of ordinary people is the aim.”
The ECCB is now poised to embark
on the DXCD pilot from March
2019. The pilot will be executed
in two phases: development
and testing, for about twelve
months, followed by rollout and
implementation in pilot countries
for about six months. As part of
pilot implementation, the ECCB
will ramp up its sensitisation and
education initiatives to facilitate
active public engagement
throughout all member countries.
The ECCB is being technically
supported on this Project by Pinaka
Consulting Ltd.
About the Eastern Caribbean
Central Bank: The Eastern
Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) was
established in October 1983. The
ECCB is the Monetary Authority
for: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda,
Commonwealth of Dominica,
Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia and St Vincent
and the Grenadines.
About Bitt Incorporated: The Bitt
group of companies has positioned
itself at the forefront of financial
innovation in Barbados and the
wider Caribbean. The Company
has leveraged blockchain-based
distributed ledger technology to
produce the most efficient financial
services ecosystem to date.
Website: www.eccb-centralbank.
org
46 SL-YOU | Business, People & Lifestyle
www.slyoumag.com | July-August 2019