Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten (CBCS) has been working on using blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in their society. However, in a new partnership with a blockchain developer called Bitt, they may be able to establish their own cryptocurrency with a little more exploration.
By using a digital currency, these two countries will be able to reduce their cost of using CBCS in the long run, and there will be less of a need to publish physical cash, putting less strain on the government. Since everything is controlled on a mutual database through the blockchain ledger, everything is honest and simple between the residents of the area.
Rawdon Adams, the chief executive of Bitt, had this to say about the collaboration between Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten :
“A central bank issued digital currency, which can be used on mobile wallets, facilitates secure and frictionless financial transactions and payments, using a mobile phone/tablet, within each jurisdiction and across jurisdictions in the monetary union. This solution is particularly powerful in the case of cross-border transactions, which can take days even within a monetary union, and the cost of which is only increasing.”
The acting president of CBCS, Leila Matroos-Lasten, believes that this new currency that they want to develop will be in compliance with KYC/AML policies. She notes that this type of progress will be “beneficial” to all of the parties involved. She added,
“The CBCS herewith recognizes the transformative potential of innovation and technology and is committed to exploring solutions regarding efficiency of cross-jurisdictional transactions and digital payments whilst ensuring compliance and security assurances obtained by these state of the art (fintech) solutions.”
Bitt has had experience already in collaborating with central banks in other areas. Most recently, in March, the company collaborated with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
Their goal was to help with the development and eventual testing of technology that could help with the ECCB’s measures to fight terrorism and to maintain AML/KYC compliance.
The governor of the ECCB, Timothy Antoine, released a statement, which says,
“[As] the ECCB promotes the safety and soundness of the financial system in the ECCU, it also has a responsibility to encourage and support innovation consistent with the Bank’s mandate to facilitate the balanced growth and development of member countries. To that end, blockchain technology merits our attention and consideration at this time.”
