DCash has been rolled out in all but one member country of the ECCU

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) expanded its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to two more nations of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).

They are Dominica and Montserrat.

With the addition of these two countries, the digital version of the Eastern Caribbean dollar, dubbed DCash has been rolled out in all but one member country of the ECCU.

The ECCU member countries are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. The Eastern Caribbean dollar is the legal currency of the eight member country ECCU.

The ECCB DCash can be sent and received through a free app for users based in any eastern Caribbean country that has launched the CBDC. During the current pilot period, the transactions are processed with no transfer fees.

The DCash project became the first currency union to use a CBDC and aims to reduce 50 per cent of the use. The ongoing 12-month pilot started in March of 2021 and is expected to “assess the feasibility of a full commercial launch to all eight of their member countries”.

ECCB Governor Timothy N.J. Antoine argued that “the payment system should work for all, except for illicit actors,” and that DCash “must work for small states and small businesses.” Antoine justified the existence of an Eastern Caribbean CBDC as an advance in the digitalisation of the economy while noting that the current payment methods are “too slow and too expensive”.

How the DCash will work

Users do not need a bank account to access or use the digital currency as the ECCB claims its top goals are payments system efficiency, financial inclusion of the unbanked and under banked populations, and increased resilience and competitiveness in the ECCU.

Enthusiasts have claimed that CBDCs like The Bahama’s sand dollar and the ECCB’s DCash could offer a viable solution by making money more accessible as soon as users can enter the platforms during periods of crisis, thus delivering financial help packages faster.

Several small countries have found themselves in a bigger need to move towards digitalisation of physical cash by 2025.