On June 10, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade piloted the Bank of Jamaica (Amendment) Act, 2022 in the Senate, which allows the Central Bank of Jamaica to begin issuing the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) JAM-DEX in the country.
Between July and August 2020, the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) invited technology providers to submit proposals for the testing of a CBDC in the bank’s Fintech Regulatory Sandbox.
The BOJ chose eCurrency Mint from 43 vendors and began an eight month pilot of the currency that ended on December 31, 2021.
The National Commercial Bank of Jamaica participated in the pilot, for which $230 million Jamaican dollars were minted for use among selected deposit-taking institutions and authorised payment service providers.
In May, the BOJ announced a phased rollout of JAM-DEX through the National Commercial Bank’s Lynk digital wallet.
These amendments make the JAM-DEX CBDC legal tender with the Jamaican Central Bank as sole issuer. Other digital wallet providers are being assessed in preparation for providing the service to Jamaican citizens.
Jamaica is the first country in the world to read a CBDC into its legislation.