Business
Bitt – The Caribbean’s first bitcoin and digital exchange launches March 30
After 2 years of planning and development, Bitt – the Caribbean’s first bitcoin and digital exchange company, will be launched on March 30. This means that people across the region will soon have access to a software platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies and digital commodities with traditional banking integration.
According to Bitt co-founders Gabriel Abed and Oliver Gale, their plan is to have digital currencies stand side by side with traditional currencies throughout the Caribbean in the not too distant future.
Following the company’s official launch, bitcoin, the world’s first decentralized digital currency, will become accessible to citizens across the Caribbean region, including the estimated 60 percent who are currently unbanked, or under banked.
“We serve the international market but are focused and centered on the Caribbean offering the core services of mobile digital wallets, international remittances and e-commerce merchant solutions utilizing new software called bitcoin and blockchain,” Gale, the company’s CFO said.
Bitt, which is based in Hastings, Barbados, is offering a system that is completely branded, built, designed and managed in the Caribbean. The company provides high tech systems at a fraction of the cost of the money transfer systems currently used in the region.
Gabriel Abed, the company’s CEO, is of the view that traditional legacy financial systems are outdated. “They have huge buildings and many employees. They have paper systems, centralized management ledgers,” he said.
Abed explained: “Everything you can pay for in cash, I can pay for in bitcoin.”
Abed’s involvement in the world of digital currency was a natural progression from his educational pursuits. A graduate with a Bachelors degree in Information Technology majoring in Network Security, his professional qualifications cover cryptography, software development and intrusion detection systems.
Abed was introduced to cryptocurrencies in early 2010 during his undergraduate studies but over the past 12 years, he has been leading software development innovations in the region as part of a team of dedicated developers.
His business partner, Gale, followed a different academic route, earning an honors degree in accounting and management from the University of Bristol. He was introduced to Bitcoin in 2012 and immediately immersed himself in the field, combining his knowledge of traditional finance with a growing knowledge of digital finance.
At present, Bitt is run by an 8-member team, headed by Abed and Gale, as well as three advisers: Peter Tod, Barry Gale and Jeremy Stephen. Once the company is fully implemented, users will be able to sign up to log on to Bitt website, follow the instructions and immediately start accepting bitcoin from anyone around the world.
