The central bank of Jamaica coined 230 million Jamaican dollars in August last year for the central bank's digital currency pilot program (CBDC). The amount was worth approximately $ 1.49 million at the time of the announcement. The pilot program ended in December 2021 and the Bank of Jamaica plans to swap Jamaican fiat dollars for the CBDC version at a rate of 5% annually. The first CBDC deposit was 5 million Jamaican dollars, worth approximately US $ 38,000 which was distributed to the National Commercial Bank (NCB). Another million Canadian dollars was sent for central bank employees.
NCB was the first financial institution to test CBDC with 57 individuals and small merchants who successfully completed person-to-person transactions using digital wallets. Transactions were made between different types of brands and merchants, according to the BOJ. TFOB's chief product officer (2021) told Reuters: "It's a different way to pay and allows for easy peer-to-peer transactions." (TFOB is the branch of the NCB). The central bank has also launched a competition for the branding of its digital currency. The bank recently announced the winners for the best name, slogan and logo with competitors winning $ 350,000 for the best name contest and $ 250,000 for the best slogan. The winner for the best logo design received 350,000 Jamaican dollars. Winners will receive an extra Jamaican $ 25,000 from CBDC to their NCB digital wallets. The winning name, slogan and logo will be revealed to the public when the copyright and registration processes are completed.
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