Skip to main content

Digital currencies in Trinidad and Tobago

Image
By
Let me start by defining commonly talked about terms in this space. Digital (or virtual) currency is currency available only in digital form and not physical form. Cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency where cryptography is used to create, secure and verify the currency independently of a central bank. Blockchain is a decentralised and distributed digital ledger. Bitcoin is one of the available cryptocurrency. Fintech or financial technology is the use of tech to improve and automate financial services

In January 2019, the Central Bank of TT issued a joint public advisory on virtual currency. It states that digital currency is not legal tender in Trinidad and Tobago and providers are not regulated or supervised here. In early 2018 the central bank stated their position on fintech and virtual currency and in that stated that, the bank does not consider the establishment of a Central Bank digital currency a priority at this time but will continue to study developments in this area. Also available on the Central Bank website is their November 2018 Draft E-money Policy. E-money here is fiat currency in electronic form for ease of use.

In the region however, we have some countries that have gone ahead of us. We have BITT based in Barbados that started with a digital currency in 2016. The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has recently launched a digital currency pilot for one year. We have the Central Bank of Bahamas with their Sand Dollar digital currency project this year. The Jamaica Stock Exchange is supporting the trading of digital currencies.

For us to say that we should be moving forward with digital currency in Trinidad and Tobago, we would have to understand the advantages and disadvantages of digital currency. I think that the tech is advanced enough where we can take a chance and present it as an option but letting persons know of the risks involved. I want to applaud the work being done by the Fintech Association of Trinidad and Tobago and their promotion of a cashless future.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Below the surface

By
This is a chapter from my eleventh book called Quotation Marks Sparks . __________ "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." - Jon Kabat-Zinn __________ I was looking at quotes that hit hard and this quote stood out to me. It seems mundane and obvious and often repeated. Life is about how we respond to the inevitable. It is not what happens to us but how we respond. I had to ask myself to dig deeper and look below the surface. Then I saw that when we surf we really become the waves. We become friends with the waves. The waves and us are the same. Further, the waves are created by us and in our heads. We can control the waves because who can surf all the time? Sometimes we just have to come to shore and build sand castles on shore. I asked my friend Gemini for feedback and he said that I was right, the Jon Kabat-Zinn quote initially seems like a simple call for resilience, but my deeper dive reveals profound layers. The idea that we can move beyond merely rea...
Post a Comment
Read more

A place for coders in Trinidad

By
DHub is being rebranded as CodeTT. Not sure how long before the change and launch takes place. Before you know it there will be elections again and then what if the government changes again. I am not optimistic about this. I want to be but I do not like politics. I wish society could function without politics. That aside it would be nice to have a home for coders in Trinidad and Tobago. I wonder what other countries are doing? I wonder if I will be alive if this ever happens. I think before any of this happens the government has to find a better way for citizens to communicate with them. From my experience I get the feeling that most people are just ignored. I have an idea for an app for this called GOQA - GOvernment Query App (QA also stands for Question and Answer). Every query (question, comment, suggestion, whatever) gets routed to the right person until it gets answered. Man that would be so fantastic. Finally a government that tries to listen to the people. My friend Chatty says ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Having a soft spirit

By
It is 137am. It started raining. I decided to write. I have heard about having a soft heart but what does it mean to have a soft spirit? And is having a soft heart related to having a soft spirit? My friend Chatty says that a soft heart feels deeply — it breaks, heals, and loves with tenderness — while a soft spirit moves gently through life, unresisting and at peace with what comes. The two are kin: a soft heart opens you to emotion, and a soft spirit teaches you to carry that emotion with grace. Together they make a person both tender and strong — able to feel the rain and still trust its rhythm. I like the quote, "a soft spirit in a hard world" by author and poet, butterflies rising. It resonates with how many of us feel. My friend Chatty tells me that that quote captures the quiet strength of staying gentle in a harsh world. It reflects the author's signature themes of vulnerability, tenderness, and emotional courage — the idea that softness is not weakness but a form...
Post a Comment
Read more