The Bank of Jamaica has reportedly teamed up with a tech startup from Ireland to work on its central bank digital currency project, slated to be initiated in May this year. 

Specifically, the latest attempt from Jamaica regarding rolling out its own sovereign digital currency is reportedly to collaborate with eCurrency Mint – a cryptographic firm focusing on central bank digital currency issuance, to become the tech provider for the initiative. 

Previously in July last year, Jamaica’s central bank reportedly invited tech solution providers to finalize their application submission for its CBDC. At the time, the BoJ reportedly specified that crypto will not be selected to be the foundation for its planned sovereign digital currency. 

The Ireland-based eCurrency Mint is reportedly collaborating with central banks and different global financial entities to build protocols for CBDC design and implementation.

As included in the announcement, Jamaica’s central bank reportedly disclosed that the trial phase for the CBDC will be kickstarted in May, under the aegis of the BoJ’s Fintech Regulatory Sandbox.

ECurrency Mint will reportedly offer their support for the central bank regarding testing protocols during the pilot stage, expected to be finalized in December 2021. 

The tech entity from Ireland will reportedly also take up the role of Jamaica’s CBDC provider, when the complete countrywide release starts in 2022. The CBDC will be rolled out to function as a payment measure, the same as cash, to both individuals and establishments. 

The same as various nations throughout the Caribbean area, Jamaica adopts a liberal crypto and blockchain regulation to a degree, with regulated a few establishments, nominally the country’s Stock Exchange participating in cryptocurrency trading.