The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), like so many other regulators across the globe, has kept a cautious approach to crypto, a position it has recently reiterated.
“The bank is playing its role as a responsible central bank to caution our citizens, as we have done in the past. The last notice of this nature was issued in 2018, this is merely a reminder,” reads the official statement from the bank.
Meanwhile, the BOJ is in full swing of creating its own CBDC and even has plans to introduce it by 2022.
In regards to this, the Director of the BOJ’s Payment System Policy & Development Department Mario Griffiths declared: “A central bank digital currency is issued and backed by a central authority. In our case, it is the Bank of Jamaica. It’s a liability of the Bank of Jamaica and I want to compare that to cryptocurrencies that exist on the market. Those are issued by a private entity. It’s a claim on a private entity.”
He further added: “Some are decentralized and there are a number of decision-makers that we would not know about, but in the case of a CBDC, we want persons to come to us, the Bank of Jamaica, or wherever they have their wallet, so it is totally different.”