Medici Ventures Portfolio Company Bitt, Inc. Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarte...
August 13 2018 - 11:00AM
Medici Ventures’ Barbados-based fintech portfolio company Bitt,
Inc. announces it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
with the Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS) to
explore the feasibility of the CBCS issuing a digital Curaçao and
Sint Maarten guilder to facilitate digital financial payments
within the monetary union of Curaçao and Sint Maarten.
The parties signed an MOU on August 3, 2018, representing the
culmination of talks which began in April 2018 during the CBCS’
second Central Banking Conference. This MOU solidifies the
relationship between Bitt and the CBCS and outlines the basic
framework for this collaborative effort in order to determine the
way forward.
“The MOU clears the way for collaboration and information
sharing regarding a feasibility study, designed to determine the
viability and functionality of using a central bank-issued digital
guilder within the financial ecosystems of each member, and across
both members of the monetary union,” explained Rawdon Adams, CEO of
Bitt Inc.
Given that two of the CBCS’ most important objectives are to
maintain the external stability of the guilder, and to promote the
efficient functioning of the financial system in the countries of
Curaçao and Sint Maarten, this MOU is of particular relevance,
according to Mrs. Leila Matroos-Lasten, acting President of the
CBCS.
“The central bank is determined to address its challenges
proactively by exploring the latest technology available, for
example, to reduce the level of cash usage within the monetary
union, and to facilitate more secure, more AML and KYC compliant,
and more efficient financial transactions within and between
Curaçao and Sint Maarten,” said Matroos-Lasten. “The CBCS herewith
recognizes the transformative potential of innovation and
technology and is committed to exploring solutions regarding
efficiency of cross-jurisdictional transactions and digital
payments whilst ensuring compliance and security assurances
obtained by these state of the art (fintech) solutions. This would
be beneficial to everyone.”
The MOU with the CBCS marks Bitt’s second MOU with a formal
monetary union, the first being with the Eastern Caribbean Currency
Union (ECCU) signed earlier this year.
“We chose to sign this MOU with Bitt due to this company’s
regional experience in digital payments and its macroeconomic
views,” added Matroos-Lasten.
There are approximately seven formal currency/monetary unions in
existence globally, inclusive of these two in the Caribbean. When
asked about this apparent coincidence, CEO of Bitt Inc. Rawdon
Adams responded, “A central bank issued digital currency is of
particular relevance in a monetary union where member states are
separated by long distances - or the ocean - as with the ECCU, and
the situation of Curaçao and Sint Maarten. This makes the Central
Bank’s task of printing and distributing physical cash securely
across member states that much more challenging and costly. A
central bank issued digital currency, which can be used on mobile
wallets, facilitates secure and frictionless financial transactions
and payments, using a mobile phone / tablet, within each
jurisdiction and across jurisdictions in the monetary union. This
solution is particularly powerful in the case of cross-border
transactions, which can take days even within a monetary union, and
the cost of which is only increasing.”
Bitt's vision, as the region's premier financial technology
company, has been to utilize distributed ledger technology to
efficiently and securely issue digital dollars that equate with
existing fiat currency, under regulatory oversight.
"We are therefore pleased to sign this MOU with the CBCS, and
look forward to the collaboration and results," added Mr.
Adams.
Medici Ventures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Overstock.com
founded in 2014 with the mission to accelerate blockchain
technology. Medici Ventures strategically invests in companies that
apply blockchain technology to industries including capital
markets, banking and money, identity, land titling and property
rights, and voting.
About Medici Ventures:Launched in 2014, Medici
Ventures is a wholly owned subsidiary of Overstock.com, Inc.,
created to leverage blockchain technology to solve real-world
problems with transparent, efficient and secure solutions. Medici
Ventures has a growing portfolio of groundbreaking
blockchain-focused investments, including tZERO, Peernova, Bitt,
SettleMint, Factom, and IdentityMind, Spera and Symbiont. The
company’s majority-owned financial technology company, tZERO,
executed the world’s first blockchain-based stock offering in
December 2016.
About Overstock.comOverstock.com,
Inc. Common Shares (NASDAQ:OSTK) / Series A Preferred (Medici
Ventures’ tZERO platform: OSTKP) / Series B Preferred
(OTCQX:OSTBP) is an online retailer based in Salt Lake
City, Utah that sells a broad range of products at low prices,
including furniture, décor, rugs, bedding,
and home improvement. In addition to home
goods, Overstock.com offers a variety of products
including jewelry, electronics, apparel, and more, as well as a
marketplace providing customers access to hundreds of thousands of
products from third-party sellers. Additional stores include Pet
Adoptions and Worldstock.com dedicated to selling artisan-crafted
products from around the world. Forbes ranked Overstock
in its list of the Top 100 Most Trustworthy Companies in 2014.
Overstock regularly posts information about the company and other
related matters under Investor Relations on its
website, http://www.overstock.com.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such
forward-looking statements include all statements other than
statements of historical fact. Additional information regarding
factors that could materially affect results and the accuracy of
the forward-looking statements contained herein may be found in the
Company's Form 10-K for the quarter ended June 30, 2018, which was
filed with the SEC on August 9, 2018, and any subsequent filings
with the SEC.
Media Contact:pr@mediciventures.com
Investor Contact:ir@overstock.com
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