Caribbean CBDC resumes its functions after 2 months of shut down

Following being shut down for around two months due to some technical glitch, DCash, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) of the Caribbean which is opted by eight island nations, has resumed its functions this Wednesday.

DCash is back to offer its services

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) stated that the DCash platform is now back to normal after crashing on January 14. The CBDC’s operator posted on Facebook by saying:

“Effective today, 9 March, the full functionality of the DCash Platform has been restored. If you are already a DCash user, you can start sending funds and making payments again using your app.” 

It added that before bringing the currency back online, it upgraded the platform along with conducting “extensive testing and assurance exercises.”

As per the official, the primary reason behind the glitch was an expired certificate on the Hyperledger Fabric’s version that was meant to host the DCash ledger.

CBDC adoption in the region

The creation of the CBDC started a year ago when ECCB became the first monetary union to do so. Since then, the currency has been adopted by almost every ECCB member with an extension to Dominica and Montserrat in December.

Being in its pilot stage, DCash adoption has been limited. Data says that over 4,000 individuals have downloaded DCash wallets with more than 120 merchants who are accepting the currency as payment.

The experiment is closely analyzed as there is massive competition among countries to run their CBDCs in the most efficient way. 

Interestingly, Tether CTO said that CBDCs will use private blockchains as a modern payment system.