New Caribbean Cryptocurrency in the Works

Is the Caribbean developing its own version of the BRICS currency? 

So developers are launching a new Caribbean digital currency to cut the USD as the middleman during regional trade. 

CaribCoin is now accepting applicants to its pilot programme for the new Carib dollar.

Carib dollar is a stablecoin or kind of cryptocurrency.  It will be a digital payment system that will allow business-to-business transactions when you’re trading within the Caribbean.

Essentially, it will give the Caribbean a single currency to use when countries are trading with each other without having to convert to USD. 

See, there are a bunch of currencies in the Caribbean – the Jamaican dollar, TT dollar, Guyanese dollar, Belize dollar, Barbados dollar, EC dollar – and each of them has a different value. That makes things complicated when it comes to trading, so they convert to the USD to make things simpler.

Remember a few weeks ago we talked about how the US dollar is the global reserve currency and most countries use it for trade.  Well, the Carib dollar could be an alternative for trade within this region. 

It’s supposed to help regional traders settle transactions easier without having to go back and forth with US dollar conversions.

From what I understand, it would work the same as digital transactions work now. Businesses can cash in using the currency of their country, which will be converted to Carib dollars, and then they can conduct trade with the Carib dollar.

As a stablecoin, the Carib dollar’s value has to be pegged to something. According to CaribCoin, which is the company developing the currency, it will be pegged to a Caribbean currency. They haven’t specified which one, but their website says “the peg will be set to maximise value” for users.

The currency’s pilot phase is expected to begin by the end of this year. Right now, Jamaica and Barbados are the only countries in the pilot. The developers said they want to test the currency incrementally and add more users and countries over time. 

This could be really beneficial to countries like Cuba, where trade is super complicated because of the US embargo. They can’t convert to USD at all, so a single Caribbean currency would open them up to much more opportunities. 

Plus, you know the Caribbean has been trying to move towards a Single Market Economy for ages now and this could be a step in that direction.

For the pilot, they’re looking for up to 15 Jamaican companies that trade with Barbados or vice versa to come on board. You can check caribcoin.com if you’re interested.