day Bitt, a portfolio company of Medici Ventures, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Overstock.com Inc (NASDAQ:OSTK) focused on the blockchain, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to conduct a FinTech pilot on blockchain technology in the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) member countries
Below is the full press releas – caveat emptor
For background, Bitt uses blockchain and distributed ledger technology to build a secure, streamlined, peer-to-peer payment ecosystem in the surrounding region.
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts; March 14, 2018 : The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and the Barbados-based fintech company, Bitt Inc. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to conduct a FinTech pilot on blockchain technology in the ECCB member countries.
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During the pilot, the ECCB will work closely with Bitt Inc. to develop, deploy and test technology which focus on Know Your Customer Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (KYC/AML/CFT) data management, compliance and transaction monitoring system. This is intended to improve the risk profile of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) and mitigate against the trend of de-risking by the region’s correspondent banking partners. The pilot will also focus on developing a secure, resilient digital payment and settlement platform with embedded regional and global compliance; and the issuance of a digital EC currency which will operate alongside physical EC currency.
Governor of the ECCB, Timothy N. J. Antoine says, “This fintech pilot is part of the Bank’s Strategic Plan 2017-2021. The aim of the pilot is to ascertain the suitability of blockchain technology to help boost economic growth and competitiveness in the region consistent with the ECCB’s monetary and financial stability objectives. Furthermore, as the ECCB promotes the safety and soundness of the financial system in the ECCU, it also has a responsibility to encourage and support innovation consistent with the Bank’s mandate to facilitate the balanced growth and development of member countries. To that end, blockchain technology merits our attention and consideration at this time”.
The MOU between the ECCB and Bitt Inc. is the culmination of a three-day workshop which involved teams from the ECCB and Bitt Inc. As part of the workshop, commercial banks in the ECCU were invited to a special session on the pilot. The feedback from the banks was the first in a series of steps to define the functional and non-functional requirements for the pilot project.
CEO of Bitt Inc., Rawdon Adams, says, “We are proud to collaborate with the ECCB in the development of this pilot study to explore technological solutions to some of the all too real problems affecting the region, its institutions and most importantly its people.”
The pilot is due to commence later this year and will be conducted under the supervision of the ECCB, and in controlled environments.
News of this developing relationship between the ECCB and Bitt comes just weeks after Premier Donaldson Romeo of Montserrat announced that it was the intention of his administration to embark on its own distinct pilot with Bitt. The company has also recently made headlines following its intake of a further investment of USD3.0 million from one of its major shareholders.
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About the ECCB:
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank is the monetary authority for a group of eight island economies in the Caribbean namely – Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
About Bitt:
The Bitt group of companies has positioned itself at the forefront of financial innovation in Barbados and the wider Caribbean. The Company has leveraged blockchain-based distributed ledger technology to produce the most efficient financial services ecosystem to date. Bitt has designed a protocol that can enable digital currency issuance and transactions while maintaining 100% solvency for all client funds.
