Status
LIVE
Bahamas
Bahamas Sand Dollar
According to Central Bank of The Bahamas disclosures and linked sources, this profile records status, architecture, and capability fields for Bahamas Sand Dollar.
Program Snapshot
Current status fields and timeline data from the profile record.
Type
RETAIL
Program classification
Wallets
133,481
As of 2024-12-31
Annual Volume
Not listed
high confidence
Status and Timeline
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Announced | 2018-01-01 |
| Pilot start | 2019-12-27 |
| Launch | 2020-10-20 |
| Last verified | 2026-04-18 |
Availability
- Retail
- live
- Wholesale
- none
Central Bank
Central Bank of The Bahamas
Technical Profile
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Retail |
| Architecture | two-tier |
| Access model | account based |
| Technology base | dlt |
| Legal tender | full |
Capabilities
offline payments: Yes
programmability: No
cross border: No
interest bearing: No
transaction limits: Yes
Cross-Border Projects
No cross-border project entries are listed for this profile.
Recent Updates
The Sand Dollar remains the world's first live retail CBDC, launched nationwide on October 20, 2020. According to the Central Bank of The Bahamas' 2024 Annual Report, the Sand Dollar ecosystem reached approximately 133,481 users by end-2024 and the merchant ecosystem expanded to 2,034 merchants. The same report says SandDollar Wallet 2.0 and its white-labelled mobile application were rolled out in May 2024, adding self-activation, wallet recovery, richer KYC workflows, and easier integration with authorised financial institutions. The annual report also says the Central Bank continued outreach in the Family Islands and stayed focused on the cybersecurity resilience of the interoperable wallet ecosystem. The latest public circulation figure still appears to be from the earlier Sand Dollar update series, so the registry retains user and merchant metrics from the 2024 annual report and treats deeper monetary metrics as officially undisclosed in newer public materials.
Updated: Apr 18, 2026
Reference Answers
Is the Bahamas Sand Dollar still one of the few live retail CBDCs?
high confidenceAs of 2026-04-22Yes. The registry still tracks the Sand Dollar as a live retail CBDC, and the current official source set continues to support that status.
The Sand Dollar remains a live retail CBDC in the registry rather than a pilot or historical programme. The current source set combines the Central Bank of The Bahamas' official materials with the Sand Dollar site and the 2024 annual-report metrics already integrated into the profile. That is why the page should answer status questions directly instead of falling back to generic copy.
- The Sand Dollar launched nationally in October 2020.
- The page already integrates 2024 official metrics from the central bank's annual report.
- Live status remains supported by the official source set used by the profile.
Citations
- Sand Dollar Official Websitecentral bank · T1
- Central Bank of The Bahamascentral bank · T1
Caveats
- Official metrics remain older than a single quarter, so future updates should check for newer central-bank disclosures.
Related CBDCs
Sources
Sources
Last verified: 2026-04-18
Central Bank of The Bahamas
central bank
Sand Dollar Official Website
central bank
History of Sand Dollar - Nationwide Launch October 20, 2020
central bank
Project SandDollar: A Bahamian Payments System Modernization Initiative
central bank
The Bahamas Retail CBDC Experience
central bank
2024 Annual Report & Statement of Accounts - Central Bank of The Bahamas
central bank