The Depository financial institution of Jamaica (BoJ) has successfully completed its f central banking concern digital currency (CBDC), targeting a national rollout in the first quarter of 2022.

Afterward proceeding with initial CBDC image testing in March 2022, Jamaica'south fundamental bank finished an viii-month-long airplane pilot last Friday, the Jamaica Information Service reported.

Every bit part of the pilot, the BoJ minted 230 million Jamaican dollars (JMD) ($1.5 million) worth of the CBDC for issuance to deposit-taking institutions and authorized payment service providers on Aug. nine, 2022.

The central banking company and so issued i 1000000 JMD ($half-dozen,500) worth of digital currency to the staff at BoJ's banking department. On Oct. 29, the bank also issued v million JMD ($32,000) worth of CBDC to the National Commercial Banking company (NCB), one of the ​​largest financial institutions in Jamaica.

According to the study, the NCB was the first wallet provider in Jamaica's CBDC pilot, onboarding 57 customers, including 4 small merchants and 53 consumers. Customers were able to conduct person-to-person, cash-in and cash-out transactions at an NCB-sponsored event in December 2022.

The BoJ at present plans to proceed with a nationwide rollout in Q1 2022, expecting to add two new wallet providers. These providers have already been conducting virtual simulation testing and will exist able to lodge CBDC from BoJ and and so distribute it to their customers. The fundamental bank also plans to focus on interoperability by testing transactions between customers of different wallet providers, the report notes.

Related: Mexico confirms plans to roll out CBDCs in 2024

As previously reported, the central bank of Jamaica selected the Irish cryptography security firm eCurrency Mint as the technology provider for its digital currency project in March 2022. The firm is known for being involved in the CBDC development in countries such every bit Senegal. The BoJ previously invited applied science providers to submit applications for its CBDC project in July 2022.