Bitt has been selected as the technical partner for the Central Bank of Nigeria’s digital currency, nicknamed eNaira, which will be introduced later this year.
The announcement was made on Monday, August 30th, by the Central Bank of Nigeria. People have expressed an interest in learning more about the company and how Nigerians will benefit from it as a result of this announcement.
With Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology, Bitt enables secure peer-to-peer transactions with seamless mobile money transfer across Bitt’s software and mobile apps. Bitt is a financial technology company that focuses on financial technology.
Bitts’ primary goal is to develop payment systems for individuals, merchants, banks, and central banks that will promote social inclusion, financial empowerment, and economic growth for present and future generations, as well as for the benefit of the financial industry.
Why was Bitt Inc. chosen by the CBN?
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.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)Was it the first time they did it?
Earlier this year, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and Bitt Inc., a Barbados-based fintech company, struck an agreement to test a blockchain-based central bank digital currency (CBDC) within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
On October 1, 1983, the ECCB was founded. In addition to Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Caribbean Community, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and the Grenadines are all represented on the board of the Monetary Authority of the Caribbean Community.
When the ECCB conducted this experiment, a digital counterpart of the Eastern Caribbean dollar (DXCD) was created as legal tender. A historic “DXCDCaribe” pilot program was established by the ECCB on March 12th. An ‘XCD’ is prefixed with the letter ‘D,’ which stands for digital, and the letter ‘XCD’ stands for euro currency code.
The pilot employed an electronic form of the European Central Bank’s dollar, DCash, to assess possible efficiency and welfare improvements, including increased financial inclusion, economic growth, resilience, and competitiveness in the European Central Bank’s currency union (ECCU).
It is expected that the ECCB will issue cash, which will be distributed by regulated banks and non-bank financial organizations in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
Financial transactions between customers and merchants as well as people-to-people (P2P) transactions will be supported, according to the ECCB, and will all be carried out through mobile devices.
Because of the pilot, the ECCB anticipates that people of the ECCU will have greater opportunities for financial growth, competitiveness, and resilience in the long run. To address the issues outlined below, the DXCD pilot program was launched.
- Current payment systems and financial services within the European Central Bank (ECCU) have rather high charges.
- Inadequacy of banking services in terms of meeting the needs of a diverse range of consumers.
- Inefficient methods for settling cheque transactions, which cause a slowdown in the flow of business.
Who is in charge of bitt Inc.?
Gabriel Abed is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bitt Inc., which is widely regarded as the Caribbean’s foremost authority on digital currencies.
At the age of 30, the entrepreneur was born and raised in Barbados, a Caribbean island, and has established himself as a globally recognized expert on the digital currency revolution.
A number of conversations on Blockchain Technology subjects have been led by him at the Caribbean Development Bank (CBD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB), the United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth Secretariat (CS), several Central Bank conferences, and other international forums.
According to him, there are revolutionary and unprecedented solutions available to address the range of disruptive issues associated with blockchain technology.
This include, de-risking, digital cash issuance, remittance, and payment gateways, while also providing the immense transformative potential to kick-start the region’s economic resurgence through the implementation of an intelligent digital economy.
This is why his company, Bitt, was founded in order to provide these new technologies and financial solutions to the Caribbean’s unbanked populace, thereby promoting the concept of inclusion.
Other prominent members in the organization that hold executive positions
Bitt is now led by Brian Popelka, who serves as its President. Laurent Feral Pierssens is the Chief Operating Officer of Bitt and a partner in the boutique consulting firm BlockZero.
He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Amsterdam. Laurent has held a variety of positions, including Global CBDC Leader at Deloitte, where he was responsible for developing the team’s delivery skills, market activation, and alliances.
Simon Chantry is a Co-founder of Bitt and has held a variety of positions inside the company, including Director, Chief Operations Officer, and Chief Business Development Officer.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Cambridge University. In the fourth quarter of 2017, he launched the company’s Digital Currency Management System onto the market.
Jim Martin serves as the organization’s Chief Technology Officer. He brings to Bitt his expertise in enterprise software development as well as blockchain technology.
Patrick Hidalgo serves as the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). His previous experience includes assisting Proprietary Capital in its growth from $100 million to $600 million in assets under management prior to joining Bitt (AUM).
In addition to examining collateral and stress testing the portfolio, he was also responsible for developing strategic alliances for repo lending, hedging, and ensuring regulatory compliance.
In her role as an economist in the Caribbean financial services sector, Marla Dukharan contributes more than 20 years of experience to Bitt.
He is widely recognized as the most authoritative source of information on regional economic difficulties on a global scale. Her determination to play an active role in assisting in the development of solutions to the Caribbean’s economic and social difficulties inspired her to become a member of Bitt in 2017.
Bitt Inc. will register in Nigeria, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) owning a stake
In an exclusive investigation, Nairametrics revealed that Nigeria’s Central Bank intends to purchase a share in Bitt Inc.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that one of the prerequisites for accepting Bitt Inc is for the company to incorporate in Nigeria as a Limited Liability company, which would allow the central bank to possess shares in its Nigerian entity, according to reputable sources within the bank.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has maintained a long-standing policy of participating as a shareholder in many financial payment infrastructures, such as the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), the Nigerian Electronic Funds Transfer System (NEFT), and others. In this regard, the precedence of this step is enormous.
Ghana selected Giesecke + Devrient (G+D) as its engineering firm
An initiative modeled after that taken by Nigeria’s central bank, the Bank of Ghana has teamed with Giesecke + Devrient (G+D), a competitor of Bitt Inc., to pilot a general-purpose central bank digital currency in Ghana, West Africa, similar to that taken by the CBN earlier this year.
As part of the trial phase, G+D will provide the technology and design a solution that is tailored to Ghana’s specific requirements. The solution will be tested with financial institutions such as banks and payment service providers, as well as merchants, customers, and other relevant stakeholders.
“The Bank of Ghana has signed an agreement with G+D to implement a pilot CBDC project as a precursor to the issuance of a digital form of the national currency, the Cedi.
“The project is part of the ‘Digital Ghana Agenda,’ which involves digitizing 30 million people and its government services. The digital Cedi, or ‘e-Cedi,’ is intended to complement and serve as a digital alternative to physical cash, thus driving the Ghanaian cash lite agenda by promoting diverse digital payments while ensuring a secure and robust payment infrastructure in Ghana.
“It also aims to facilitate payments without a bank account, contract, or smartphone, by so doing boosting the use of digital services and financial inclusion amongst all demographic groups,”
Bank of Ghana