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The Eastern Caribbean Currency Union is in the pilot phase. The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank launched its CBDC (known as DCash) in 2021, but it was then shut down in 2024. Although the CBDC was previously available to everyone throughout the union, it is considered a pilot because the CBDC was ultimately shut down. This status will be reevaluated when the central bank moves forward with its plan to launch “DCash 2.0.”
During the 34 months that the CBDC was available, it operated on a private blockchain hosted on Google Cloud. People were able to send and receive the CBDC through a mobile app after setting up a wallet with an authorized financial institution.
Note: The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank is the central bank for Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
In the central bank’s 2018 Annual Report, it noted again that a CBDC would be launched “to help reduce cash usage with the [Eastern Caribbean Currency Union] by 50 percent, promote greater financial sector stability, and expedite the growth and development of our member countries.”
In March 2019, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank signed a contract with the company Bitt Inc. to conduct a CBDC pilot based on blockchain technology. Eastern Caribbean Central Bank governor Timothy N. J. Antoine said, “This is not an academic exercise. Not only will the [CBDC] be the world’s first digital legal tender currency to be issued by a central bank on blockchain but this pilot is also a live CBDC deployment with a view to an eventual phased public rollout. The pilot is part of the ECCB’s Strategic Plan 2017-2021 which aims to help reduce cash usage within the ECCU by 50 per cent, promote greater financial sector stability, and expedite the growth and development of our member countries. It would be a game-changer for the way we do business.”
To promote the CBDC, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank ran a monthly newsletter called the “DXCD Times” (referring to the CBDC’s initial name: the digital Eastern Caribbean dollar). The newsletter has since been removed from the central bank’s website. However, the editions from November 2019, February 2020, and March 2020 were archived. These editions covered cybersecurity, digital wallets, and consumer feedback.
In the central bank’s 2019 Annual Report, the report noted that the “EC Digital Cash (DXCD) Pilot Project is progressing at pace towards live deployment when real transactions will be conducted among financial institutions, merchants and members of the public.” This statement appeared to suggest the pilot was underway and the CBDC would soon be launched so people could make real transactions. However, the report later said, “The six-month live pilot of the DXCD is scheduled for the second quarter of 2020.” Therefore, it’s likely the central bank planned to blur the lines between a full launch and a pilot.
In October 2020, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank announced that people would “soon be able to sign up to use the digital version of the EC Currency (DCash).” At this time, the pilot was limited to Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia.
The central bank’s 2020 Annual Report celebrated that “DCash, the digital version of the EC dollar, became the world’s first retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) to be publicly issued within a formal currency union.”
In March 2021, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank hosted an event to mark the official launch of its CBDC. However, citing complications from the pandemic, the central bank limited the launch to four of the eight members of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. At the event, listeners could win EC$50 ($18) in CBDC by answering three trivia questions. The central bank also announced it would introduce incentive programs featuring cash-back deals. During the Q&A session, the central bank fielded complaints about the CBDC wallet not working, comparisons to cryptocurrency, and questions about the limits on the CBDC wallets.
On the note of financial inclusion, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank governor Timothy Antoine said at the launch event that the CBDC has a “value-based” option specifically to help those without bank accounts. He acknowledged that “requirements imposed on our banks through the international reporting obligations” (e.g., anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism) make it harder for people to open accounts. Therefore, he said, “If you do not have a bank account, you cannot be excluded.”
In April 2021, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank offered 10 percent back on purchases made with the CBDC. People who made five or more transactions over EC$20 in a month would be entered to win an unspecified prize that would be awarded at the central bank’s headquarters.
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank announced in June 2021 that the CBDC would soon go live in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
After the launch, consumers could access the CBDC through the DCash Wallet mobile app. Consumers could load money into their wallets by trading in cash at approved locations or by converting money from a bank account. However, in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, most reviews express frustration—particularly over waiting months for accounts to be verified.
The central bank’s 2021 Annual Report provided a few notable updates. First, more than 4,000 people opened accounts. Second, the goal was to have the CBDC available throughout the entire currency union by June 2022. Third, the amount of CBDC in circulation had reached EC$2,270,000 ($839,947).
The CBDC crashed on January 14, 2022. The outage lasted for two months. Full functionality was finally restored on March 9, 2022. The outage effectively froze the entire system. It was ultimately found that the CBDC outage was caused by an expired certification.
Faced with adoption issues, the central bank began looking for marketing consultants in April 2022. The request specifically mentioned the need to educate the public about the CBDC, create awareness of use cases, “promote the habitual use” of the CBDC, create a social media personality for the CBDC, and create a space for collaboration with stakeholders.
The central bank’s 2022 Annual Report noted that there was over EC$2,450,000 ($906,551) worth of CBDC in circulation in 2023. The report also noted that the CBDC was being used by “21 participating financial institutions, 10 agencies, and close to 400 merchants within all eight ECCB member countries.” It also reported that it contracted with a marketing company “to lead marketing and educational activities” for the CBDC.
The central bank’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan revealed the somewhat confusing nature of the CBDC. The report refers to the March 2021 launch as the launch of the “DCash Pilot project.” However, the report then says, “During this strategic period, the Bank will launch the implementation of a commercial deployment of a retail CBDC solution which will allow for technological integration with the core banking system of participating financial institutions, resulting in reduced friction for participating financial institutions and their customers.” Considering the CBDC was available to everyone at this time, it’s unclear what this second initiative would accomplish.
In June 2023, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank governor Timothy Antoine told reporters that there was still a problem with adoption. He said the central bank would work to improve merchant adoption so people have more places to use the CBDC. Noting that the CBDC was available throughout the currency union, he said, “With the onboarding of our marketing partner and exciting campaigns ahead, we expect DCash to become a household name in our Currency Union.”
In July 2023, the official webpage for the CBDC was taken down for unknown reasons. Using the Internet Archive shows what the page looked like before and after it went down. (As of January 2025, the page has not been restored.)
The central bank kicked off its “DCash 2.0” project in December 2023 with a request for information from possible vendors in hopes of finding a new, experienced contractor to redevelop its CBDC. The central bank’s 2023 Annual Report announced that its next CBDC would be launched in the next 18 to 24 months.
On January 12, 2024, the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union officially shut down its CBDC after being in operation for 34 months. People who still had CBDC in their wallets were instructed to reach out to cash out their balances.
In late 2024, the central bank published a survey for its next CBDC. Respondents could win up to EC$3,000 ($1,110). The central bank stated, “We’re offering monthly prizes of $500 for two months, with one winner per island, plus a grand prize of $2,500 at the end of the survey.”
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