Overstock announced a strategic investment in Bitt, a Caribbean-based fintech company whose goal is to persuade Caribbean island nations to adopt digital national currencies. The investment was announced at a media conference in Barbados hosted by Avatar Capital, which invested in Bitt, and attended by representatives from both Bitt and Overstock. Politicians and dignitaries from various Caribbean nations attended.
“A major impediment to economic advancement around the world is the fact that the vast majority of humans are unbanked,” said Overstock CEO Patrick M. Byrne. “Yet mobile penetration in some countries exceeds 100 percent. Bitt has a vision for the Caribbean of frictionless mobile cash, beginning with central banks transparently issuing digital fiat which is then exchanged on a blockchain (all under proper regulatory oversight, as with our t0 offering to Wall Street). We respect and endorse that vision, and share a common desire to see online consensual exchange flourish globally. As they say around these parts, ‘One love.’”
Reuters notes that Overstock , the first U.S. company with annual sales of at least $1 billion to accept Bitcoin as a mode of payment, has been one of the earliest advocates of digital currencies. In June, Bitcoin Magazine reported that Overstock had become the first company to offer qualified buyers the option of purchasing corporate bonds that will trade using Bitcoin’s blockchain protocol.
In October Overstock completed a production beta test of its t0 software by successfully using the Bitcoin blockchain to record evidence of compliance with applicable regulations. T0 partnered with a number of banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which Relbanks ranked as the largest bank in the world, to test its technology. That technology could eventually be used to sidestep traditional stock exchanges such as NYSE and NASDAQ and issue corporate stock directly over […]
