DCash: The Digital Currency of the ECCU

Getting to DCash 2.0

To commence the DCash 2.0 project, the ECCB issued a Request for Information in December 2023.

Our motivation for DCash continues to be the provision of a secure and resilient digital financial infrastructure, which:

1. Supports economic activities throughout the ECCU.
2. Contributes to a diverse payments' toolkit.
3. Streamlines financial transactions.
4. Helps to reduce the use of cash and transaction costs.
5. Lays the foundation for further and future digital payments innovation.

• DCash Pilot Users: Participants from the initial rollout.
• Licenced Financial Institutions: Commercial banks, Credit Unions, and other licenced financial entities.
• Technology Developers: Developers working on mobile apps, web applications, that may utilise DCash 2.0 solutions.
• Government Bodies: IT and Finance Ministries, National Insurance Schemes, Social Security system.
• Microfinance Businesses: Financial service providers catering to micro-entrepreneurs and low-income clients.
• Licenced Non-Bank Financial Institutions: Entities offering specialised financial services.
• Financial Technology Services: Innovators in financial technology.
• General Public: DCash 2.0 potential users within the ECCU.

Design Principles:

• FIT for Purpose: Multi-stakeholder input in Design and Testing.
• API Access: Promotes greater efficiency in service delivery; enables innovation beyond basic payments.
• Integration: Co-existence and interoperability with other payments infrastructure within the ECCU payments system.
• Revenue Model: Revenue model which balances objective of financial inclusion with a viable revenue generation model for licenced participants.
• Concept Clarity: DCash as a currency, not a payments service provider; DCash as digital infrastructure.
• Trust: The ECCB must engender, nurture and maintain trust in the system by both the ECCU public and key stakeholders.
• Optimise for Impact: Ensure high impact use-cases, such as merchant Point of Sales, government social payments and cross-border transactions are optimised for user experience.