Bahamas launches the Sand Dollar, the world's first nationwide CBDC

On October 20, 2020, the Central Bank of The Bahamas rolled out the Sand Dollar nationwide, making the archipelago of roughly 400,000 people the first country on Earth to fully deploy a retail central bank digital currency. The pilot had quietly run in Exuma and Abaco beforehand, but the national release is the date the rest of the world's 130-odd central banks now point to when they explain why they suddenly need one too.