British Virgin Islands (BVI) has partnered with LIFELabs to introduce a digital currency that will replace the USD.
LIFELabs was founded in 2017 with the aim of using digital currency and blockchain to aid humanitarian efforts.
A Press release on Dec 3rd indicated that the launch of the currency will be in a bid to change and transform the local Fintech sector and a presentation of it will be done at the BVI Digital economy symposium.
Digital currency adoption is on an upward trend and there are even governments that are adopting the trend. China and the Marshall Islands are pioneers and BVI has decided to join the trend. BVI which is a popular destination and is well known for gaming will be hosting a Digital Economy Symposium. The main agenda will be how to turn the destination into a digital hub.
It is at the symposium that the details of the government-backed digital currency BVI~LIFE will be discussed.
The island has been using the USD as the main currency for about 60 years. The government has decided to change the trend and is currently working on stablecoin that is powered by LIFEtoken. It is meant to be of the same value as the USD with an exchange rate of 1:1. The new currency will not be a Central Bank Digital Currency as expected but a private currency approved by the government. LIFELabs confirmed that even though they are the ones developing the currency, it will be deployed and managed by the BVI government.
The switch to a digital currency was to take advantage of the blockchain system to cut transaction costs, increase transaction speeds, increase security and also increase the liquidity of all the island visitors.
Apart from using blockchain to develop the digital currency, LifeLabs is also working on making sure that the island has an emergency fund and blockchain platform to act as a Platform-as-a-service (PaaS). Through the PaaS platform, there will be more efficient peer-to-peer transactions, merchant services, and cross-border payments.
In addition to that, there will also be a Rapid Cash Response fund (RCR) that will provide aid in case of an emergency. That will help the Island to deal better with emergencies such as hurricanes.
According to LIFELabs CEO, the project will not only impact the Island but the region as a whole.
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