Share this article
Mastercard Launches Prepaid Card for World's First CBDC in Bahamas
The Bahamian Sand Dollar can now be used for payments anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:12 p.m. Published Feb 17, 2021, 3:22 p.m.
People in the Bahamas now have the option of loading the country's central bank digital currency (CBDC) onto a prepaid Mastercard to enable use anywhere in the world, the payments giant has announced.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
- The Bahamas Sand Dollar, the world's first CBDC, can now be converted into traditional Bahamian dollars using a prepaid Mastercard, enabling users to pay for goods and services wherever Mastercard is accepted worldwide.
- Since deployment in October 2020, the Sand Dollar has been accessed exclusively through a digital app at select merchants.
- The CBDC aims to spur financial inclusion by addressing the expense and difficulty of moving cash between the Bahamas' 700 small islands.
- The Mastercard development will also open the Sand Dollar to more users, as it has previously only been available to individuals and businesses domiciled in the Bahamas.
- The Sand Dollar carries the same value as the Bahamian dollar, itself pegged to the U.S. dollar.
See also: Mastercard Will Let Merchants Accept Payments in Crypto This Year
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Citadel Securities and DeFi Waging War of Words Through SEC Correspondence
The investing giant had asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to treat DeFi players like regulated entities, and the DeFi crowd pushed back.
What to know:
- A feud conducted over U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) correspondence has developed between Citadel Securities and the DeFi sector, arguing over whether DeFi protocols should be more regulated.
- The DeFi space is calling out the investment firm for its approach to the securities regulator.
Top Stories
