Sand Dollar and Crypto: How They Differ and How to Bridge Them

Ask around Nassau and you will hear Sand Dollar described as “the Bahamian Bitcoin”. It isn’t. Sand DollarSand Dollar The Central Bank’s digital version of the Bahamian dollar, launched in October 2020. It is not a cryptocurrency and cannot be swapped for crypto directly. Glossary is a central bank digital currency, or CBDC (money issued directly by a central bank in digital form), and every unit is a Bahamian dollar owed by the Central Bank. It is handy for paying a shop or a friend, but it cannot leave the country or be swapped for crypto.

What Sand Dollar is, in one minute

Project Sand Dollar began with a pilot in Exuma in December 2019, extended to Abaco in early 2020, where the Central Bank saw it as support for the recovery from Hurricane Dorian, and launched nationwide on 20 October 2020. It is widely described as the world’s first nationwide retail CBDC.

The Central Bank (CBOBCBOB The Central Bank of The Bahamas. It issues the Bahamian dollar and Sand Dollar, supervises banks and runs exchange control. Glossary) issues it as legal tender and a direct liability, the same as banknotes in your pocket. It pays no interest, and the Central Bank charges individuals no transaction fees. You don’t hold it with the Central Bank itself. Instead you open a wallet with an AFIAFI Authorised Financial Institution: a company the Central Bank approves to offer Sand Dollar wallets, such as SunCash, Island Pay or Kanoo. Glossary, a company authorised to offer Sand Dollar wallets, and use it through an app or a physical payment card. Funds are not stored on the device, so a lost phone does not mean lost money.

Wallet providers

The official Sand Dollar site lists seven authorised wallet providers, checked on 21 October 2026: OMNI Financial Services, SunCash, MoneyMaxx, Cash N’ Go, Kanoo Pays, Mobile Assist and Island Pay. Commercial banks are not on the list. A 2024 plan to make banks distribute it is not confirmed as in force.

OMNi runs two-way cash machines for Sand Dollar in New Providence, and Island Pay launched a Sand Dollar-linked Mastercard prepaid card in February 2021. SunCash and Cash N’ Go are also on the Securities Commission register for custody of digital assets, though neither publicly offers crypto trading. And Kanoo’s “Top-Up with BTC” button means Bahamas Telecommunications Company airtime, not Bitcoin.

Tiers, limits and what you need to sign up

There are two personal tiers. Tier I needs no government ID and allows up to B$500 held and B$1,500 a month in transactions, but it cannot link to a bank account. Tier II requires government ID, a passport or driver’s licence, and raises the limits to B$8,000 held and B$10,000 a month. Only Tier II can be linked to a bank account. Business wallets range from B$8,000 to B$1 million in holdings and need proof of the business’s regulated status. Your provider, not the Central Bank, runs the KYCKYC “Know your customer”: the ID checks (passport or driver’s licence, a selfie, proof of address) that regulated platforms must run before you can trade. Glossary check.

How many people actually use it

The Central Bank reports “Sand Dollars in circulation” in its monthly balance sheet. Growth is real but from a tiny base.

Put in context, under B$3 million is about 0.1% of the Central Bank’s roughly B$3.1 billion in demand liabilities. No wallet count has been published for 2025 or 2026. Our guide to paying with crypto compares the 2,034 Sand Dollar merchants with the number of Bitcoin merchants mapped here, which is zero.

Sand Dollar vs Bitcoin vs USDC

All three live in a phone app, but they do very different jobs.

BitcoinBitcoin (BTC) The first and largest cryptocurrency, launched in 2009, with a hard cap of 21 million coins. Glossary suits people who want an asset no government controls and can stomach big price swings. USDCUSDC A dollar stablecoin issued by Circle, backed by cash and US Treasury bills and audited monthly. Glossary, a stablecoinStablecoin A crypto token designed to stay worth $1 (or another currency), usually backed by cash and short-term US government debt. USDT and USDC are the best known. Glossary, behaves like a digital US dollar that can travel the world, and since B$1 equals US$1, it is the closest thing in crypto to a portable Bahamian dollar.

Can you buy crypto with Sand Dollar?

Not directly, by design. The Central Bank’s 2018 discussion paper proposed banning direct convertibility between Bahamian dollars, including digital B$ instruments, and foreign-currency crypto assets. Sand Dollar is also domestic-only, and no wallet provider offers a Sand Dollar-to-crypto swap.

The indirect route runs through your bank. Upgrade to a Tier II wallet, link it to your bank account and move the Sand Dollar back into ordinary B$. Sand Dollar now links to the Bahamas Automated Clearing House, so this works during ACH hours. From there, buy crypto with your bank debit card or send a US dollar wire. Then exchange controlExchange control Central Bank rules on residents moving Bahamian dollars into foreign currency or foreign assets. Crypto is treated as a foreign asset. Glossary, bank fees and 1.5% stamp duty apply as usual. Our banks and exchange control guide has the fees bank by bank, and how to buy crypto in The Bahamas walks through the purchase itself.

Privacy: closer to a bank account than to cash

Wallet providers are regulated financial institutions with anti-money-laundering duties, Tier II wallets are tied to your ID, and balances sit on central records rather than in your pocket. Treat a Sand Dollar wallet like a bank account. Bitcoin differs: its blockchainBlockchain A shared public record of transactions that thousands of computers keep identical copies of, so no single bank or company controls it. Glossary is public, so every transfer is visible to anyone, tied to addresses rather than names.

International use: domestic only

The official FAQ: “At the moment the digital B$ (Sand Dollars) can only be used within The Bahamas.” You cannot pay a US website or send money to family in Florida with it, and offline payments remain unconfirmed. For anything that crosses the border you still need a bank wire, a card or, for crypto holders, a self-custody wallet.

Keep reading

Banks & exchange control Wire fees, card surcharges and the 1.5% stamp duty, bank by bank. Read guide Paying with crypto An honest look at spending Bitcoin on the islands, for residents and visitors. Read guide How to buy crypto From sign-up to your first Bitcoin, with the Bahamian bank fees nobody else lists. Read guide SunCash SunCash is a Bahamian payments company with a Sand Dollar wallet and an SCB digital asset custod… Read guide