‘No Cash, No Problem!’ Jamaica Christens Its CBDC Jam-Dex

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has rolled out the name for its central bank digital currency (CBDC), which will now be known as the Jamaica Digital Exchange, or Jam-Dex, the Caribbean website Loop reported Friday (Feb. 18).

The tagline will be “No cash, no problem!”

The report also said the currency’s logo will make use of the ackee, the Jamaican national fruit.

Ashley Payne won the contest for the name and tagline, and the report said she won 600,000 Jamaican dollars (about $3,800) plus 50,000 Jamaican dollars in CBDC.

Meanwhile, for designing the logo, Gerrard Harvey won 350,000 Jamaican dollars in regular currency and 25,000 in CBDC.

The report said there were over 100 entries in each category.

The judges said they wanted a name that was “easily and preferably instantly recognized, internationally as uniquely Jamaican.” They wanted it to have a “Jamaican vibe,” the report said.

As for the catchphrase, the report said “no problem” “instantly evokes Jamaica” and also had the right mood — letting customers know that it would be easy to use the service.

The report noted the ackee possesses a “bold and distinctive elegant simplicity” as well as symmetry symbolizing a new digital world.

“And, after all, speaking to the experience we want to create for users of Jam-Dex, one of the many ways to describe feeling good is to say, “I am in my ackee!” or in Jamaican, “Mi inna mi ackee!” the BOJ added.

Read more: Jamaica: CDBC Will Help the ‘Financially Excluded’

PYMNTS wrote that Jamaica has justified its CBDC by saying it would help out those who are not banked. Natalie Haynes, a BOJ deputy governor, said the “majority” of Jamaicans are financially excluded.

“To get those persons into the formal financial system, we decided that the central bank digital currency would be a good opportunity,” she said.