Central Bank of Jamaica plans for Airdrop CBDC for early adopters

The central bank of Jamaica is planning to give airdrop to the first 100,000 people of early adopters of CBDC. 

Besides the adoption of crypto and blockchain, the world is moving toward the adoption of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) to bring modernization in their traditional financial system and also better boost the ecosystem through the digitization of the financial system. In the present time more than 11 countries’ Central Banks are in the phase of the CBDC pilot program. 

This week, the Jamaican Central Bank revealed its plan to boost the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) adoption in the initial phase of rollout among the citizens. For this, they will give $16 worth of CBDC (a digital form of sovereign fiat currency) to the early 100k people, who will create & set up their CBDC wallet. 

Dr. Nigel Clarke, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, during the opening presentation in the 2022/23 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, said that it will boost the initial phase of the rollout of CBDC and also it will encourage the citizens to adopt an alternative & better payment options to facilitate faster transactions. 

In February of this year, the Bank of Jamaica revealed its Jamaica Digital Exchange (JAM-DEX) with the tag “no cash no problem”. 

With such initiatives and efforts, Jamaica is planning its best to push the economy of Jamaica to the next level with the adoption of modern blockchain technology in its traditional payment system. 

The JAM-DEX wallet will be available to all the people of Jamaica, who are owning a Bank account in Jamaica. 

According to reports, around 17% of the population of Jamaica is still unbanked, so absolutely it will be a barrier for such people in Jamaica not to reach JAM-DEX access easily. But surely the responsible agencies will do their best for such barriers to fix these limitations and to allow the citizens to go with digital Banking services more easily.

However minister already guided people to go with JAM-DEX wallet without Bank necessity but experts noted that such processes will not be easy for people to go with tedious steps.

minister added:

If you don’t have a bank account, all that is required to set up a JAM-DEX-enabled wallet are simplified Know Your Customer information: name, address, date of birth, tax registration number (TRN), and a valid government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license, passport, or voter identification card. Of course, once NIDS is fully implemented, this will be accepted

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