This announcement has sparked the interest of people wishing to learn more about the company and how Nigerians would profit from it.
On Monday, August 30th the Central Bank of Nigeria announced it had selected Bitt as the technical partner for its digital currency, dubbed eNaira, which would be presented later this year.
Bitt is a financial technology business that uses blockchain and distributed ledger technology to enable safe peer-to-peer transactions with seamless mobile money across Bitt’s software and mobile apps.
Bitts core objective is to develop payment systems for people, merchants, banks, and central banks that promote social inclusion, financial empowerment, and economic growth for current and future generations.
“The CBN’s selection of Bitt Inc, from among highly competitive bidders, was hinged on the company’s technological competence, efficiency, platform security, interoperability, and implementation experience.
“In choosing Bitt Inc, the CBN will rely on the company’s tested and proven digital currency experience, which is already in circulation in several Eastern Caribbean Countries. Bitt Inc. was key to the development and successful launch of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) in April 2021,” the CBN said.
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and Bitt Inc., a Barbados-based fintech firm, signed a contract in 2019 to test a blockchain-based central bank digital currency (CBDC) inside the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
ECCB was established in October 1983. It is the Monetary Authority for eight island economies: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
During this experiment, the ECCB issued a digital version of the Eastern Caribbean dollar (DXCD) as legal currency. ECCB launched its historic “DXCDCaribe” pilot on 12 March 2019. ‘D’, representing digital, is prefixed to ‘XCD’ – the international currency code for the EC dollar.
The pilot involved a securely minted and issued digital version of the EC dollar – DCash which aimed to assess the potential efficiency and welfare gains that could be achieved, including deeper financial inclusion, economic growth, resilience, and competitiveness in the ECCU, from introducing a digital sovereign currency.
Cash will be issued by the ECCB and distributed by the licensed bank and non-bank financial institutions in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). According to the ECCB, it will be used for financial transactions between consumers and merchants, people-to-people (P2P) transactions, all using smart devices.
The ECCB expects that residents of the ECCU will have more chances for financial growth, competitiveness, and resilience by implementing the pilot. The DXCD pilot was aimed to address the concerns listed below:
Relatively high costs of current payment methods and banking services within the ECCU.
Inadequacy of banking services in addressing the needs of various customers.
Inefficient processes of settling cheque transactions, which slow the pace of commerce.
Who runs bitt Inc?
Gabriel Abed is the Co-Founder and CEO of Bitt Inc., recognized as the Caribbean’s leading authority on digital currencies.
Other key executives are
Brian Popelka is the current President of Bitt. Laurent Feral Pierssens is the Chief Operating Officer at Bitt and Partner at boutique consulting firm BlockZero.
Simon Chantry is a Co-founder of Bitt and has held multiple roles within the firm, including Director, Chief Operations Officer, and Chief Business Development Officer. He brought the company’s Digital Currency Management System to market in Q4 2017.
Jim Martin is the Chief Technology Officer. He brings enterprise software development and blockchain experience to Bitt.
Related Posts:
E-Naira, CBN makes Bitt Inc it’s Official Partner in Creating Digital Currency.
Patrick Hidalgo is the Chief Financial Officer of the firm. Before joining Bitt, he helped grow Proprietary Capital, a mortgage derivative hedge fund, from $100MM to $600MM assets under management (AUM).
Marla Dukharan brings 20 years of experience as an economist in the Caribbean financial services sector to Bitt.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has had a long-standing policy of being a shareholder in several financial payment services backbone such as NIBSS, NEFT, etc. Hence, this step has formidable precedence.
