The Bahamian government will soon start forcing commercial banks to distribute its central bank digital currency (CBDC). Known locally as the Sand Dollar, the CBDC accounts for less than 0.41 percent of the currency in circulation and the Central Bank of The Bahamas reported that the CBDC has been used less and less as time goes on. Facing similar circumstances, any private business would likely be preparing to go out of business. The central bank, however, seems to have other plans in mind.

After an interview with Central Bank of the Bahamas Governor John Rolle, Reuters reporters Elizabeth Howcroft and Marc Jones described Rolle’s stance, writing, “With [CBDC] take-up still limited, carrot was turning into stick and commercial banks were now being told of regulations that will effectively force them to distribute [the CBDC].”

In other words, the central bank rolled out a CBDC, but people were not interested. In an early attempt to spur adoption, the central bank offered a “carrot” in the form of rebates given in return for topping up CBDC wallets and spending the CBDC in stores. Yet, it still was not enough to spur mass adoption. Therefore, the government is setting the carrots aside and pulling out the stick of regulation to force banks to distribute the CBDC.

We have seen this type of behavior before. 

In Nigeria, the central bank was facing abysmal CBDC adoption of just 0.5 percent. In an initial bid to sweeten the deal and encourage adoption, the central bank announced that there would be discounts on cab fare. When that didn’t work, it was announced that cash would be pulled from the streets so that new notes could be issued. Any remaining notes that failed to be exchanged would expire in just two months.

The scheme resulted in a cash shortage that led to protests and riots in the street, but it was ultimately celebrated by the Central Bank of Nigeria when CBDC adoption rose from 0.5 to 6 percent after people had nowhere else to turn.

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