Online retailer Overstock.com has announced a 4$ million strategic investment in Caribbean digital currency exchange Bitt. The news was announced at a press conference held in Barbados, which was attended by representatives from Overstock and Bitt, as well as numerous representatives from several Caribbean nations.

Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock, said that Bitt’s effort to bring mobile digital currency access to the underbanked citizens of the Caribbean region is a major step in the “economic advancement” of the region, “We respect and endorse that vision, and share a common desire to see online consensual exchange flourish globally.” said Byrne.

According to the release

, Bitt plans to leverage the newly-acquired funds to expands its presence and infrastructure in the Caribbean and to eliminate the high costs associated with remittance transactions in the region.

CEO and Co-founder of Bitt, Gabriel Abed, believes that high remittance costs have held back economic development of the Caribbean, “Regional small businesses find it financially prohibitive to offer online payment options to consumers and this places a drag on entrepreneurship in the Caribbean,” said Abed.

Abed envisions a future where Caribbean citizens can send digital currency to any place in world with a few taps on their mobile:

“Our aim is to use crypto-technology to turn our regional citizens into global citizens, giving them the ability to send or receive money directly via their phones, in seconds, from all corners of the globe.”

 

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