The East Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has executed the first retail transaction for its “DCash” digital currency.

• The successful transaction using the central bank digital currency (CBDC) was conducted at a supermarket in Grenada on Feb. 12, technology partner Bitt announced.
• “This transaction is a major milestone in our mission to place DCash in the hands of the people of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. … We are now on the cusp of the public launch of DCash,” said Timothy Antoine, governor of the ECCB.
• The public launch will see the roll out of DCash in four of the eight members of the East Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU): Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia.
• The central bank been developing the blockchain-based CBDC with Bitt, a Barbados-based fintech company, after a deal was struck in spring 2018.
• Work on the CBDC began in 2019, with the infrastructure built over the last year using Bitt’s digital currency management system (DCMS).

See also: Mastercard Launches Prepaid Card for World’s First CBDC in Bahamas