The Central Bank of the Bahamas.
By Fay Simmons
Tribune Business Reporter
jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
Central Bank executives yesterday forecast that 50 percent of Bahamians will have active Sand Dollar accounts by year-end 2024, with 160,000 already using this nation’s digital currency version.
Brett Lashley, the regulator’s deputy manager for customer experience, told the D3 digital assets conference that more than 35 percent of the Bahamian adult population currently uses the Central Bank-backed digital currency (CBDC).
He said: “We’ve already past 35 percent of the adult population. We have a relatively small population of just about 400,000 people so, you know, having 150,000 to 160,000 wallets already activated shows that we’re well on our way. By next year, I would say that we’ve targeted to get a little close to that 50 percent mark where we can say every other person is using Sand Dollar.”
Mr Lashley explained that the Central Bank has seen a “gradual uptick” in the amount of Sand Dollar customers, and there are now more than 150,000 consumer and 1,600 merchant digital wallets. He affirmed that the Sand Dollar provides a cash alternative to unbanked or under-banked islands and areas in The Bahamas.
“To-date, we have seen a gradual uptick in the adoption of Sand Dollar both from the consumer side - where we have over 150,000 wallets activated - and for the merchant side, where we have over 1,600 merchants throughout the archipelago accepting Sand Dollar as a method of payment,” Mr Lashley said.
“It’s key benefit really is for those communities that are lacking access to banks, the unbanked or the under-banked, providing them with a means other than cash to transact.”
Shaqueno Porter, the Central Bank’s deputy manager for financial market infrastructure, forecast that up to 75 percent of Bahamians will have active Sand Dollar accounts by 2025 with participation from commercial banks.
Given that the commercial banking industry already has an established infrastructure and consumer base, partnering with it could see Sand Dollar adoption “explode”. He said: “I think once we get all the banks involved, the Government’s involved, I think it would get 60 percent to 75 percent by 2025.
“The commercial banks.. this is a key to any successful CBDC. The commercial banks already have an existing customer base, and integration with the commercial banks can see adoption explode.” Mr Porter added that the Central Bank will engage with commercial banks next year to see how they can integrate Sand Dollar with their systems.
“So, we actually have an engagement strategy in 2024 to engage with the local banks here in The Bahamas,” he added, “to get them on board and to see how we can integrate the Sand Dollar with their internal systems and try to truncate some of the processes with issuing a CBDC.”
“They already have their existing networks and their existing infrastructures, so we are working with them to integrate the Sand Dollar into their internal systems.”
Mr Porter said the Sand Dollar lowers transaction costs for merchants and promotes financial inclusion by providing a digital banking service to under-banked communities.
He added: “The Sand Dollar offers real time settlement for transactions. And, because of this, we can reduce the need for intermediaries between the consumer and the merchant which, in turn, lowers the transaction costs for merchants.
“In terms of financial inclusion, we expect that in the near future the Sand Dollar will be an ubiquitous form of digital money that does not require traditional banking services. This will help us to reach the under-served communities, where we see unbanked and under-banked individuals, and we can include them in basic financial services.”
Comments
JackArawak 6 months, 2 weeks ago
Digital currency sounds like crypto to me. No one has properly explained why I should have it and how I get it and because the government is on board I’m extremely and I mean extremely suspicious. The government has a very very long way to go to earn my trust
FreeportFreddy 6 months, 2 weeks ago
UM reality just knocked at the door. The average Bahamian does NOT have a bank account. So how...never mind
TimesUp 6 months, 2 weeks ago
Good luck with that!
And 35% of the adult population do not use Sand Dollar (rolls eyes). People downloading the app is not the same as people using it! I have never met a single person who has used it to purchase something.
bahamianson 6 months, 2 weeks ago
Ate dinner in the states the other day. All restaurants downtown were charging 3% financial adjustment if you used a credit card to pay for dinner. If you used cash. You got the 3% deducted. They were encouraging you to use cash. Stop bullying people to used what you want them to use. All the bank is, is a bully. We should have a.choice not this sand shoved down our throats.
ohdrap4 6 months, 2 weeks ago
Suppose I had some. Where can I spend it? Food store? BPL? Pay for car inspection?
JohnBrown1834 6 months, 2 weeks ago
We were the first country out the gate now we playing catch up. Sand Dollar is designed to eliminate the use of ATMs or banking services. It is a direct charge with no fees involved. The hold-up has been trying to get the banks involved. The banks are not going to do anything unless they make money from it. So forget about the banks and get everyone involved. The strategy has been backwards. They were focusing on the people first rather than the merchants. Get all businesses on board with Sand Dollar first and the rest is elementary. What's the point of having a Sand Dollar account and no one is accepting it?
GodSpeed 6 months, 2 weeks ago
my "account" is only "active" because you gave me some free money to go grocery shopping. I will NEVER put my own money into your digital enslavement currency if it's my choice.
bobby2 6 months, 2 weeks ago
It's make believe money & the first hint of sand dollar trouble in the Country, it's value if any will be Zero. This whole news story sounds made up.
ThisIsOurs 6 months, 2 weeks ago
"Mr Lashley explained that the Central Bank has seen a “gradual uptick” in the amount of Sand Dollar customers,"
This is bad interpretation. What's really happening is the Central Bank is running an aggressive install the app campaign by, as stated previously, giving away money through radio contests. There is nothing wrong with that because the first and hardest step is to get someone to download install and register. What needs to be added to this data for a true picture of what is happening is, how many of those persons reload their accounts, use the funds and how long do they continue to reload with their own money. Forcing people to use the app through mandatory govt services is another bad ploy as we can see, immediately after the COVID you have to take payment in Sand Dollars, everybody stopped using it.
The whole thing was ill thought out by people who dont understand technology and simply jumped on the digital is the wave of the future bandwagon. You can easily tell them, look at anyone using the term "AI" as today's cureall, they generally dont know what they're talking about #bandwagon
ExposedU2C 6 months, 2 weeks ago
These Sand Dollars like any other digital currency are all about evil governments wanting to take complete control of your cash and other financial assets.
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