The Caribbean nation of St Kitts and Nevis may declare Bitcoin Cash legal tender by March 2023.

The country’s prime minister, Terrance Drew, who made the announcement, indicated that his administration is considering introducing Bitcoin Cash on a legal basis. This despite the twin-island Caribbean state being part of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank DCash central bank digital currency (CBDC) programme.

Drew made the announcement while speaking at the Bitcoin Cash 2022 conference in St Kitts earlier this week.

The St Kitts and Nevis DCash CBDC programme was launched in March 2019.

“Our nation has always been a forward-thinking nation and a leader in exploring new technologies that can advance our people,” Drew told the attendees at the Bitcoin Cash 2022 conference.

“I can confirm that we are prepared to explore that possibility with the guidance of experts and professionals and after consultation with our regional banking system. … I welcome the opportunity to dialog further with a view to exploring future opportunities to engage in Bitcoin Cash mining and making Bitcoin Cash legal tender here in St Kitts and Nevis by March 2023, once safeguards to our country and our people are guaranteed,” the St Kitts and Nevis prime minister told the gathering.

Bitcoin Cash was created from Bitcoin in a 2017 fork. The DCash programme has had technical problems that have impeded adoption. Besides introducing new competition to DCash, the Caribbean nation may be eyeing its replacement.

St Maarten Member of Parliament Rolando Brison, who spoke after Drew, expressed his support for Bitcoin Cash and his opposition to a CBDC. Brison opposed CBDC as “too much of a danger to consider”.

He told the conference: “I love the fact that, in our jurisdiction, the central bank has at least been open enough to say and admit, ‘We don’t have the capability to monitor and engage and promote and safeguard something like this.’ … If they can’t properly regulate the banking sector, … why would I give them now a huge mandate to do something that they have no idea about? … The legislator should be the one to have a say on what happens in regulation.”