Sand Dollars, Seabiscuits and Symbols of Bahamian Hope

Last week, the Central Bank of the Bahamas (CBOB) made history by becoming the first central bank to issue a digital currency nationwide. The digital version of the Bahamian dollar, called the “Sand Dollar,” is now available across the entire archipelago. The currency has been under development for years, but it couldn't have launched at a better time.

Project Sand Dollar is a Bahamian Payments System Modernization Initiative (PMSI) that is upgrading the commonwealth’s financial market infrastructure and digitizing the Bahamian dollar. Previous PMSIs’ included the creation of a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system in 2004 and the Bahamas Automated Clearing House (BACH) in 2010, both of which increased the speed and efficiency of domestic electronic payments. These payment system infrastructure upgrades served as an essential precursor to the Sand Dollar.