Cayman Islands Dollar Definition

KYD is the currency abbreviation or currency symbol for the Cayman Islands dollar (KYD), the currency for the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands are a British Overseas Territory that includes Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac.

The Cayman Islands dollar was first seen in 1972, replacing the Jamaican dollar on a one-to-one basis. Both Jamaican and Cayman Island currency was used until 1972 when the Jamaican currency was discontinued. 

The Cayman Islands are a well-established offshore financial center. The Cayman Islands dollar comes in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 dollars as well as coins. The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority manages the currency.

The KYD is pegged to the U.S. dollar whereby one Cayman dollar is equal to 1.20 U.S. dollars. For example, let's say you were sending a wire transfer to the Cayman Islands and wanted to convert $1,000 to KYD. The exchange would result in 833.60 in Cayman dollars ($1,000/1.20).