WILLEMSTAD/ PHILIPSBURG – The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS) and the Barbados-based Fintech company Bitt Inc. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore the feasibility of the CBCS issuing a digital Curaçao and Sint Maarten Guilder, to facilitate digital financial payments within the monetary union of Curaçao and Sint Maarten.
The parties signed a MOU representing the culmination of talks which began in April 2018 during the CBCS’ second Central Banking Conference. This MOU doesn’t only solidify the relationship between Bitt and the CBCS, but it also outlines the basic framework for this collaborative effort, to determine the way forward. The MOU clears the way for collaboration and information sharing regarding a feasibility study, designed to determine the viability and functionality of using a Central bank issued digital Guilder within the financial ecosystems of each member, and across both members, of the monetary union.
Given that two of the CBCS’ most important objectives are to maintain the external stability of the Guilder, and to promote the efficient functioning of the financial system in the countries of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, this MOU is of particular relevance, according to Mrs. Leila Matroos-Lasten, acting President of the CBCS: “The Central bank is determined to address its challenges proactively by exploring the latest technology available, for example, to reduce the level of cash usage within the monetary union, and to facilitate more secure, more AML and KYC compliant, and more efficient financial transactions in and between Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The CBCS herewith recognizes the transformative potential of innovation and technology and is committed to explore solutions regarding efficiency of cross-jurisdictional transactions and digital payments whilst ensuring compliance and security assurances obtained by these state of the art (fintech) solutions. This would be beneficial to everyone.” Mrs. Matroos-Lasten added: “We chose to sign this MOU with Bitt due to this Company’s regional experience in digital payments and its macro-economic views.”
This MOU with the CBCS marks Bitt’s second MOU with a formal monetary union during this year. Bitt’s vision, a regional financial technology company, has been to utilize distributed ledger technology to efficiently and securely issue digital dollars that equate with existing fiat currency, under regulatory oversight.
