Caribbean Central Bank Collaborates For A Blockchain Deal With Bitt

BTC Wires: Bitt, a blockchain startup from Barbados, is collaborating with the Centrale Bank van Curacao en Sint Maarten (CBCS) to explore the specifications of issuing a cryptocurrency between the two countries, with support and backing from the central bank. Bitt announced this Monday that it has already signed an MoU earlier in August with the central bank for partnering in Curacao, a Dutch Caribbean Island and in Sint Maarten, a Netherlands constituent country. The aim of this partnership is to explore the possibility of issuing a digital currency to substitute the currently existing Netherlands Antillean guilder. This initiative will partially focus on testing the KYC/AML (know your customer/ anti-money laundering) technologies, according to remarks from the side of Bitt, a portfolio firm of Overstock-owned Medici Ventures.

Leila Matroos-Lasten, the acting President of CBCS said that this decision of the bank to get into such a partnership was inspired by its macroeconomic ideas and leanings as well as the bank’s earlier local experiences with digital payments. She further noted that the bank was focused on trying to overcome the obstacles facing it by harnessing the potential of modern technology. It has been making an attempt to tackle its challenges head-on by using the latest technology for things such as reducing cash usage levels inside the monetary union and promotion of greater security and compliance (with KYC/AML). The use of such technology is expected to boost transaction efficiency within and beyond the borders of Sint Maarten and Curacao. This Memorandum of Understanding clearly reflects the bank’s growing acknowledgement of the immense potential of such technology. She went on to remark that exploring ways to make cross-jurisdictional payments and crypto transactions a reality is a major part of the bank’s agenda. While ensuring this aspect, it is also taking care of security and compliance issues in these modern fintech solutions. With this, the bank hopes to be able to benefit several sections within and beyond the finance and crypto industry.

A few months ago, Bitt had signed a similar Memorandum to enter into a collaboration with Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. That bank offers coverage of multiple areas such as Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Antiguilla, the Commonwealth of Dominica etc. That trial is geared towards the development of fresh forms of digital settlement/payment systems, which could eventually lead the bank to come up with a native cryptocurrency with substantial credibility.

Dmitriy

Having majored in Social Psychology and Economics, I worked as a team lead of a tech and fundamental analysis lab in the Applied System Analysis Research Institute. I write financial articles for various international media. I also hold the position of a Chief Analyst at RoboForex.