The growing movement that has seen Bitcoins emerge internationally as a US$1.5 billion digital currency market has formally reached the region.
Two young Barbadian entrepreneurs have announced the launch of what they say is the Caribbean’s first “electronic currency service”.
But after persistently receiving what they considered a cold reception in Barbados, businessman Gabriel Abed and partner Oliver Gale have shifted their focus to Trinidad and Tobago where their company is now based. The have also reported a positive response from Jamaica and St Lucia.
The duo have partnered with New York-based AlphaPoint Financial Services Inc., said to be “the leader in digital currency exchange software” to launch bi.tt Caribbean Digital Exchange, which promised to “deliver the first digital currency exchange for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) powered by the AlphaPoint Exchange platform”.
The website bitcoin.org said Bitcoin “is a consensus network that enables a new payment system and a completely digital money. It is the first decentralised peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen”.
Speaking from Trinidad, Abed told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that after trying but failing to get Barbados to see the possibilities with digital currencies generally and Bitcoin specifically, he determined it was best to look elsewhere in the region. He added, however, that it was not too late for Barbados to get on board as other countries, including the United States, were.
“It’s unfortunate because I love my home but it just doesn’t have people who want to think beyond today. What Bitcoins represent for our public is the ability to get paid online immediately with no red tape for any goods or service that they want to market or sell internationally,” he said.
“The average Bajan can get a Bitcoin wallet in two seconds and get paid immediately on their Android phone or on their computer, there is nothing else in the world that offers this solution . . . . We got other islands like Jamaica and St Lucia and Trinidad to open their doors and say ‘yea we will look at these things’, whereas as my own country wouldn’t.”
“It’s not too late, Bitcoin and other digital currencies can help our economy. They very well can help the average Bajan sell online and that’s the main thing we need to focus on, that we can get paid immediately for goods or service.”
