Bridgetown, BARBADOS; October 31, 2018 : The Central Bank of Barbados and the Financial Services Commission have jointly launched their first regulatory sandbox with Bitt Digital Inc. The move follows an announcement made by Prime Minister Mia Mottley last month, during Bitt’s second annual ‘Central Banks Meet Blockchain’ Conference at the Barbados Hilton, that there would be a national mMoney pilot.
mMoney is a mobile application, available from both Apple and Android app stores, that is designed to allow users to send and receive Barbados digital dollars from mobile devices to make payments with ease. Since its debut earlier this year, mMoney has been utilised by over 200 merchants and thousands of consumers across Barbados, with increasing demand and uptake.
“Professionals from the Financial Services Commission, the Central Bank of Barbados and the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment, had an inaugural meeting with the mMoney team. It was a productive meeting to establish a sandbox as a necessary first step,” reported Rawdon Adams, CEO.
The intent of the mMoney pilot would be to explore the benefits and work through the challenges of using a digital version of the Barbadian dollar within the framework of the sandbox scheme, thus providing adequate mechanisms for consumer protection and the ability to monitor systemic risk to the local financial system.
“The central focus of the sandbox, would be to satisfy the regulators that any and all possible regulatory concerns such as consumer or systemic risks have been identified and addressed,” Adams explained.
Among the areas examined will be the company’s operational strength, the scalability and soundness of its technology and the impact, if any, it would have on the incumbent financial system.
“As we progress collectively, updates would be communicated,” Adams assured.
