Dominica, Antigua & Barbuda set to experiment with Bitcoin virtual currency

Dominica is on the verge of becoming a cryptocurrency community and other Caribbean countries, like Antigua & Barbuda may want to get in on the action.

Bitcoin – a software-based online payment system is launching a campaign called “Let the Bit Drop” in Dominica in March of 2015. The campaign will give 70, 000 Dominicans a specified number of Bitcoins via their mobile phones to spend however they wish. The decentralized form of payment can be traded for regular currency, or spent online.

Bitcoin is also a virtual currency that allows users to trade “actual” money for digital tender and exchange it online for goods and services, just as they would with “actual” money. It functions based a sophisticated mathematical algorithm. Each user that signs up for a Bitcoin wallet is issued an address and becomes part of the network. All Bitcoin transactions are entered into a shared public ledger called a block chain allowing users to keep track of their spendable balance and verify new transactions. It also ensures that the entire supply of Bitcoins remains within the network.

According to Dominican technology enthusiast, entrepreneur and proprietor of Pegasus Technologies, Yves Ephraim, the thrust Bitcoin has seen could lead to some countries adopting it as a national currency in the not too distant future.

However, economist McCarthy Marie said that the overall effect on the economy would be slow initially. “It is something relatively new for the majority of the population,” he said. However as Bitcoin grows in popularity he expects other nations to begin paying attention to the virtual payment system.

“As more and more people gain confidence in it the more and more people will use it to transact business.” -(CMC)