Overstock invests $4 million in Barbados bitcoin startup

Crazy Review : Caribbean digital currency exchange Bitt has received a new investment of $4 million from online retail company Overstock.com. The reason for the investment is that the startup is engaged in digital currency-based payment methods and also considers that the unbanked population in the region has development potential. The funds can be used to expand the team and promote the development of the Bitcoin blockchain.

Translation: Nicole

Caribbean digital currency exchange Bitt has received $4 million in new investment from online retail company Overstock.com. The deal, announced today, comes on the heels of Bitt’s February launch of a blockchain-powered digital version of the Barbados dollar. The startup raised $1.5 million in seed funding from local venture capital firm Avatar Capital in March.

Bitt CEO Gabriel Abed told CoinDesk the deal was struck at the Satoshi Roundtable in February, an invitation-only gathering of companies.

The funds will be used to expand the company's team beyond just Barbados.

Abed explained:

“We’re just taking what we’ve done in Barbados and dividing the field to ask lawmakers to make policy reforms, especially around security, consumer protection, privacy and data. More importantly, this will not hinder the innovation and development of blockchain and Bitcoin in particular.”

Abed said the startup will consider using some of the funding to meet regulatory requirements.

While he would not comment on whether his startup would play a role at Overstock through the use of blockchain technology, Abed spoke of an active collaboration between the two companies.

Gabriel Abed, CEO of Bitt

He said:

“The two companies are like one big family and we are treated equally.”

Overstock is also developing a blockchain-powered securities exchange, and the online retail company recently publicly stated that it hopes to issue its own securities on the platform, hoping to achieve 1 million blockchain-based securities sales. Overstock's securities platform was launched in August last year. In the statement, CEO Patrick Byrne said that Overstock's investment was partly due to the startup's work on digital currency-based payment methods and also took into account the region's unbanked population.

Byrne said:

"We respect and approve of this idea, and we all hope that online self-trading can develop globally. They all revolve around one theme - 'One Love'."