Grand Bahama Island is forging ahead with plans to become the world’s premier destination for all things cryptocurrency. The country hosted the 2018 Bahamas Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference and its central bank have revealed plans that The Bahamas are going to advance in the world of digital currencies by launching their own digital token.
The announcement came from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance K Peter Turnquest. Turnquest expressed his desire for the Bahamas to transform itself into a veritable hotbed for all things that concern cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
The archipelago certainly has had its fair share of experience juggling between currencies so far, with the Bahamian Dollar and US Dollar both considered a valid FIAT currency on the islands. Now, the country is planning to launch its own digital currency. It’s quite possible that this token will become the native currency of the island, drawing from the $9 billion GDP.
Stepping Up Its Digital Game
The digital bid of the Bahamas may actually have a curing effect. The banking sector of the archipelago has been struggling with bugbears that have been slowing down any fast-paced banking system. For starters, because of the segregated nature of the Bahamas, people have been struggling to get access to banking services.
Remember last time when you were rather reluctant to nip out to the bank because it was a 15-minute walk? Well, Bahamas’ residents need to take boat rides to the main islands and they often may need to transport their money manually, which is generally an ill-advised idea when venturing into open water.
Turnquest has plumped heavily for cryptocurrencies as the digitalization of all money may actually lead to a more efficient sort of banking. One that, for starters, won’t have you out of the house and into a boat to carry out some basic retail banking.
According to Turnquest, the introduction of widely-adopted digital currency will also help the country fight another pest – corruption. The blockchain technology will allow for the financial transaction to be open to public scrutiny.
He also continued, elaborating on what the technology was going to do as a point of fact. Turnquest said that his focus will be to eliminate the human contact, which is the main conductor for corruption of any sort. He is hopeful that the central bank will manage to tackle a common bias whereby in order to receive a service in the Bahamas, you have to tip someone.
Digital Fiat Currencies
The Bahamas is far from the first country to toy with the idea of introducing its own national currency that runs on the blockchain. China has been experimenting with the idea for a while now and the digitization of the Chinese economy seems to be very palatable indeed.
Meanwhile, we have seen how illegitimate regimes such as Venezuela’s may hijack digital technologies to serve their own avaricious ends. Bitcoin has also been reportedly used in a number of clandestine, illicit and immoral operations.
While we welcome the Bahamas’ move towards digitization of its national money to fight corruption, everyone should remember that with one challenge tackled, a number of possible bugbears.
