In an endeavor to provide the country’s citizens with awareness regarding the utilization of crypto, the Jamaican authorities are planning to airdrop nearly $16 (2500 local dollars) to the initial 10,000 residents starting their CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) wallets after the 1st of April.
CBDC and JAM-DEX (Jamaica Digital Exchange)
This week, while pronouncing the inaugural presentation in the Budget Debate of 2022/23 in the House of Representatives, Dr. Nigel Clarke (Minister of Finance and Public Service) mentioned that the chief target of the respective step is to persuade the residents to utilize CBDC to carry out transactions. BOJ (Bank of Jamaica) had disclosed the CBDC endeavor of the country, called JAM-DEX (Jamaica Digital Exchange), in February.
The effort is included in the country-wide digital transformation of the Jamaican economy driven by the government. As per the Financial Minister, any person with a present bank account is by default eligible for the unique CBDC, which is going to be rolled out during April and June.
The central bank and authorities will additionally recommend BOJ to be JAM-DEX and CBDC’s only issuer. According to Clarke, the more sellers like bars, vendors, and corner shops will embrace JAM-DEX, the more increase will be witnessed in the utilization of the respective CBDC.
Unbanked Populace of Jamaica
Jamaica Observer’s stats unveiled that nearly 17% out of the cumulative population across Jamaica is unbanked at present. Previously, many nations have entered the CBDC sector. In the case of Jamaica, the study discloses that residents who do not have bank accounts are likely to pay much more funds as compared to those who own bank accounts.
In this situation, considerable assistance could be provided on the behalf of a central bank digital currency to get the majority of the unbanked people into the country’s banking system.
While talking about the unbanked population, it was expressed by the minister that there will be a requirement for the residents to have a CBDC wallet containing KYC provisions. He specified that the people having no bank account just require ownership over a wallet that has JAM-DEX enabled in it with the basic Know Your Customer (KYC) information.
In the meantime, the unveiling of JAM-DEX was responded to with mixed remarks. A few enquired about the motives of the leaders at the back of the step taken by them regarding the factors like slogan, logo choice, and nomenclature.
