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Rawdon Adams Returns to the Barbados Space to Spearhead Bitt Inc

The BU household has been following the rise of blockchain technology with great interest. Obviously it is technology at a nascent stage and it is the venture capitalists and early adopters who have the  task of ‘selling’ a new payment mechanism to the population.

The BU household will continue to monitor the progress of the technology and wish Rawdon Adams every success who is the newly appointed CEO of Bitt.com. We have a lot of respect for Rawdon, the BU family should recall he has contributed to the BU forum in the past. He joins Marla Dukharan at Bitt.com where another person we have a lot of respect was recently added to the team to lead the charge.

The Barbados directorate should take note that the OECS sub-region has signed up with Bitt.com to pilot the technology.

The following article extracted from Coindesk.com.

 

Barbados Underground

Bitt, the blockchain payments startup backed by Overstock’s Medici Ventures, has announced the hiring of a new chief executive officer.

The new CEO, Rawdon Adams, takes the helm of the Barbados-based startup just months after it unveiled an ambitious plan to develop a pan-Caribbean settlement network built with blockchain tech. The plan, Bitt said in May, is to create a way to better connect a region with more than a dozen governments, each with their own currency systems.

The startup has also worked with the Central Bank of Barbados on pilot blockchain initiatives.

The appointment of Adams adds heft to the startup’s regional plans. Rawdon is the son of Tom Adams, who served as the country’s prime minister between 1976 and 1985. Tom Adams, in turn, was the son of Sir Grantley Herbert Adams, the first and only prime minister of the former West Indies Federation.

According to LinkedIn, Rawdon previously worked as an analyst for GE Medical Systems and founded market arbitrage software startup ArbMaker in 2008.

Jonathan Johnson, president of Medici Ventures, said in a statement:

“Rawdon is the perfect leader to grow and scale Bitt to the next level and bring to fruition Bitt’s initial vision in the Caribbean.”

Overstock, through Medici, invested $4 million in Bitt in April of last year.

Editor’s Note: This report has been updated for clarity.

 

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at news@coindesk.com

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201 responses to “Rawdon Adams Returns to the Barbados Space to Spearhead Bitt Inc”

  1. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    re the words of the modrn Solomon Hal
    It is in his DNA to be our political leader
    SO CHELSEA CLINTON SHOULD BE THE NEXT POTUS?

  2. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    Irony my foot.
    Hal thought he could hold on to enuff underpants and help slide that BS through that corridors of BU.

    When confronted, he resorted to doublespeak/irony.

    Jeff described it correctly.

    The champions of Rawdon would give him a 90 yard head start in a 100 m dash and at the same time keep others at the starting line.

    …..

  3. enuff Avatar
    enuff

    TheGazer

    Wunna need help yuh skippa (to borrow from Bushie).

  4. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @Talking Loud,

    I made a serious over-estimation assuming this was not an American blog. Will remain literal in future. Humour does not cross borders.

  5. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    Lots of help….
    We don’t need Moses

  6. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    Have a great day…..All

  7. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    hal went away to britain and now he wants to tell us what is humourous and what is irony

    no sah
    you are a jackass (lowest member of the equinoids)

  8. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @GP

    As bajans say “ man you right to laff at muh”, I am no theologian but to satisfy your curiosity, Sunday School @Ch.Ch and St. David’s.

  9. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Hal Austin September 30, 2017 at 3:19 PM
    “In Britain we tolerate a buffoon like Boris Johnson because we went to Eton and Oxford, where he read classics. A great qualification.
    How can being bilingual be a qualification to be a political leader? Roy Hodgson, the former England football manager and current manager of Crystal Palace speaks six languages. Should he be prime minister?”

    Yes, indeed, the same way you can tolerate the magniloquently superfluous sesquipedalian calling himself the Shakespeare King Fumble from the House of Stuart.

    Bajans have been tolerating a similar buffoon of stellar performance in the capacity of an economics and finance illiterate for the past 7 years whose ascension to power in the position of primus inter pares has been nothing of merit but purely as the unfortunate outcome of Lady Karma wielding her sword of retribution and the blood of vengeance spilling on Lady Luck lying in the arms of a sleeping giant of a clown named Elf Freundel.

    If Fumble could be so lucky as to become PM as a right of passage to becoming a square peg of abject incompetence in a round hole worthless performance why can’t Rawdon Adams be identified as the most likely successor to MAM whose reign as Queen of the Bees might just be a short one; in the same way King David served his truncated purpose in destroying the notion of honesty and integrity being the underpinning philosophy of the former party of the dear loving people.

    Who will ever forget the ‘regurgitated’ pledge to an army of foolish Bajan cadets:
    “A {DLP} cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”

  10. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    iN WHAT YEARS DID YOU ATTEND Sunday School @Ch.Ch sIR?

  11. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @GP
    Probably 58-59 or 59-60 not sure of the timing could even have been earlier, my mother may remember I’ll have to ask her later.

    I don’t remember anyone from those classes and was never too involved at Ch. Ch. I do remember A I Johnson as Priest in charge and a young Harold Crichlow as his assistant but can’t tell if those memories are from my time at school beyond the cemetery wall.

  12. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    The Tores are having their annual conference, ongoing.

    Well, we know that Theresa May is living on borrowed time

    Her enemies are many. There has never been a bigger political failure than May.

    Though some here would posit support for Jeremy Corbyn

    They nonetheless would really prefer people like Jacob Rees Mogg, a unique monarchist.

    Mogg an erudite, doubled-barreled named, private schooled, darling of the the rabid Right

    Firmly resides in the 18th century, with all that that means

    However, it was not beneath him to marry a rich woman and himself then make his millions, new money, flogging the dark arts of the hedge funding industry.

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    The Tories against May cannot afford not to support her because they know her defeat spells the elevation of Corbyn.

  14. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    There is certain political death for the Tories, either way.

    They will die because of in-fighting – separately

    Or they will die together – at the hands of Corbyn

    The political pendulum in Britain seems destined for a return to a pre-Thatcher era.

  15. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Jethro Miller, PGCE (FE)

    Yes, indeed, the same way you can tolerate the magniloquently superfluous sesquipedalian calling himself the Shakespeare King Fumble from the House of Stuart.

    I have told you before you are semi-literate – and stupid. What has Boris Johnson got to do with prime minister Stuart? And the thought of having you teach young teenagers in our schools .
    Then you go on to claim, again, that I ‘tolerate’ him. You fabricate straw men to knock them down. I do not have any views on prime minister Stuart, or any practising Barbadian politicians. I do not know them nor am I interested in party politics..
    If you want a debate, then I am willing to do so, any time.

  16. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Sargeant September 30, 2017 at 5:05 PM #
    @GP
    Probably 58-59 or 59-60 not sure of the timing could even have been earlier
    SARGE I GOT TO LOOK UP TO YOU AND RESPCT YOU MORE MAN cause
    YOU LIKE YOU OLDeR THAN ME YEH! lol
    so when did you attend BFS? I went 61-62
    attended the church 62-68

  17. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    Remember that May is barely holding on to power by the massive largesse being paid to the DUP, a far-right, extremist, terrorist party of northern Ireland with whom she sought an alliance after last elections.

    That gambit failed to give her the much vaunted majority. Since then her handling of the Brexit is floundering badly.

    The party is in open rebellion against her leadership. With senior ministers openly plotting her demise.

  18. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @peterlawrencethompson September 30, 2017 at 7:25 AM “The biggest adjustment I have had to make on getting back to Bim from Canada a several months ago is the pathetic banking system.”

    And the Canadian banks here are the pathetic leaders. I’ve had run ins with 2 of the 3 of them, I don’t bank with the 3rd, but I would not be at all surprised to find that they are just as pathetic.

    Can’t manage a simple written instruction.

  19. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Bernard Codrington. September 30, 2017 at 2:16 PM #
    “I wonder if Bitcoin has the same downside risks as Derivatives.”

    No Bernard: the downside risk of Bitcoin is that you can lose all your money, the downside risk of derivatives is that you can lose all your money plus a lot more that you never had in the first place.

  20. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Hal Austin September 30, 2017 at 2:35 PM #
    “How did Bittcoin get regulatory permission, what loops did they have to jump through”

    None. Bitcoin has no regulatory permission. They jumped through no hoops at all. After the fact, the jurisdiction of New York State imposed some rules if you want to trade Bitcoin on Wall St. or anywhere in NY. Then the head of the NY financial services commission quit his job and went into business as a consultant to charge lots of money telling companies how to navigate the rules he wrote 😉

  21. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @de pedantic Dribbler September 30, 2017 at 2:37 PM #
    “There are many, many millionaires and a few billionaires minted in last 20 years because of the derivative finance ‘finesse’.”

    And there are many, many people who lost their homes, jobs, livelihoods, companies and lives because they were destroyed by the ‘finesse’ of some bankster trading derivatives. The US Government Accountability Office put the cost of the 2008 derivative caused crisis at over US$22 Trillion

  22. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Bernard Codrington. September 30, 2017 at 3:32 PM #
    “All money is Fiat money”

    So true Bernard. We all need to remember this fact.

  23. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger. Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger.

    “Then the head of the NY financial services commission quit his job and went into business as a consultant to charge lots of money telling companies how to navigate the rules he wrote 😉”

    Business as usual…that’s the idea.

    Hopefully we will hear he too is in handcuffs, pretty soon.

  24. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @GP
    I didn’t say how old I was when I attended Ch.Ch.,( but probably older than you anyway) my mother entrusted me to the care of some older girls and they used to hold my hand and take me to Sunday School. I went to BFS from ’62 you probably went to HC with other BFS folk (I remember GD whose older brother also attended HC) and who lived opposite the new Police Station.

    BTW another BFS alumnus, the fast bowler who came over later but descended into mental instability after UWI died a few months ago.

  25. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Sargeant September 30, 2017 at 6:18 PM

    re I went to BFS from ’62 you probably went to HC with other BFS folk (I remember GD whose older brother also attended HC) and who lived opposite the new Police Station.

    OK you attended BFS after I left. So we might be the same age or I might be older.

    I hope that you paid the “older girls …….who used to hold your hand and take you to Sunday School well afterwards. what a start you had in life my friend lol murdah

    AGAIN I MUST SHOW YOU MUCH RESPECT I WAS NOT SO BLESSED lol lol

    Yes GD and WCC the politician and HR Best from Light & power left for college then also
    PKC the lawyer CM from BWA left for Lodge then too

    Yes that chap from St George and the batsman both got into some bad habits at St Augustine

  26. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Sargeant
    Do you anything about the Callender boys from St Lawrence who were nick named Bakie or Baked fowl at BFS?

  27. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    know anything about the whereabouts of

  28. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    OK, so I’ll be the guinea pig and report back. So far I have signed up on bitt.com and logged in.

    There are three levels of security to satisfy banking know your customer (KYC) requirements. So far I am at Level 1 : Basic Verification with the following Authorized Services
    Receive Limit: 250 USD or equivalent per month
    Send Limit: 250 USD or equivalent per month
    Requirements: Name, Date of birth, Address, Phone number

    From here I can progress to Level; 2 : Identity Verification with the following Authorized Services
    Receive Limit: No Limit
    Send Limit: 10,000 USD or equivalent per month
    Requirements: Photo ID or passport, Proof of Address: (No older than 3 months) – Bank or Credit Card Statement or – Utility Bill or Phone Bill

    After that the highest level is Level 3 : Corporate Verification & Individual High Value Account with the following Authorized Services:
    Receive Limit: No Limit
    Send Limit: 250,000 USD or equivalent per month
    Corporate Requirements: Articles of incorporation, UBO, Shareholders and Directors KYC, Any additional account users KYC (if different than above), Ownership and Control Structure, Bank Letter of Good Standing, Proof of Address, etc., Completed Source of Funds form

  29. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    So Bitt Level 1 is of very limited utility: basically going to the coffee shop after Bitt gets its merchant products up and running and the coffee shop takes Bitt. Don’t hold your breath.

    Bitt Level 2 is more useful for stuff like sending your kids money to pat school fees when they are away at university. All you have to do is both sign up and then you can send up to 10,000 USD per month at a far lower cost that Western Union.

    The 2% foreign exchange fee will probably be charged whenever you put money onto your Bitt acount, even if you choose that your account is denominated in Barbados dollars.

    I am assuming that when your account is in Barbados dollars, the bitcoin value fluctuation risk is borne entirely by Bitt Inc. If this is not the case the whole system is completely useless in my opinion.

  30. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    Bitt Inc. is advertising for a number of tech personnel because I don’t think any of the principals are programmers. Their site has basic functionality but is clearly a work in progress.

    Overstock, their american investor, is an internet retailer without any reputation for significant technical expertise. Overstock bought 8% of Bitt for their US$4 million investment so far. There is an agreement in place to invest a further US$12 million which will bring their ownership up to 32% of Bitt Inc.

    I have no way of estimating Bitt’s burn rate so I don’t know how long a runway they have before they need to be either generating significant revenue or shopping around for new investors.

  31. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    Avatar Capital
    Overstock=Medici=t0.com
    Alphapoint (Bitt is powered by AlphaPoint’s white label exchange technology, designed by veteran Wall Street traders.)

    (to myself: This may be nothing more than a high tech western union…
    funding is Trinidad and US;
    Technology is US..
    Wondering what is truly Barbados/ECS perhaps the business idea

    We need our financial analyst Ha to put it together and give us the full story…

  32. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    We don’t agree that ALL money is fiat.

    Money that is made from gold or silver like the gold dinar or dirham are not fiat at all.

    Paper money for which one can receive the stated value in gold or silver is not fiat either

    Moreover, money could also be basic food items as used in barter or as a measure for other goods.

  33. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Diamonds are often used as money as well

    Much easier to travel with. less bulky.

    Of course, they must be evaluated, on the spot.

  34. David Avatar
    David

    To clarify the earlier point in response to trust as Bernard pointed out- the current system of fractional reserve is already cheating us (the public).

  35. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    Does Corbyn and Labour want the job at this time to oversee Brexit?

  36. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David
    Yes

  37. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    But Cornyn is no more likely to succeed than Theresa May.

    To say anything else would be impolitic

  38. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    But Cornyn is no more likely to succeed than Theresa May.

    To say anything else would be impolitic

  39. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Pachamama September 30, 2017 at 9:04 PM #
    Fiat money is a currency without intrinsic value. I am arguing that gold and silver and diamonds have no intrinsic value… it is only cultural convention that leads us to ascribe value to them… we can’t eat them or use them for shelter or satisfy any real human need with them, we just value them because there isn’t much of them around, but the value we ascribe to them is entirely irrational.

  40. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ PLT
    I am arguing that gold and silver and diamonds have no intrinsic value….the value we ascribe to them is entirely irrational.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Perhaps to you – because you appear to be much less albino-centric in predisposition than most…

    But to what item in physical existence can the above not be said? ….and hence you are saying (and Bushie supports) that all money is fiat. Even food and shelter are of such fleeting value as to be of questionable use in barter.

    However, you will hardly find any commodity better suited than gold or similar precious elements, that (for whatever reason) is able to command a relatively meaningful and stable value over a substantial period, and to a wider audience…. especially among the albino-centric parasites that pervade our world.

    Too-besides, Bushie don’t want no stinking fiat…. too much rust….
    Bring a Benz a Lexus or Beemer..
    LOL
    ha ha ha

  41. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger. Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger.

    PLT…so in essence, the best bitt inc can hope for is becoming a glorified western union that charges less for money transfers.

    No self respecting, world renowned programmer will get involved with that gang, unless he or she is an independent contractor for short term and the best of those go at the rate of US150 to US200 AN HOUR……those I know work 24 hours a day, until exhaustion puts them to sleep.

    …..they will have to get youngsters who are now starting out and trying to learn the coding, cryptography and web development ropes…..to gain experience and move on to better.

  42. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Look Boss…
    Anytime you hear of a scheme that cannot be SIMPLY explained – without long convoluted jargon from unknown ‘experts’ …. it is a SCAM.

    Much like derivatives and ‘term life insurance’, …’block chain technology’ is just the latest set of nonsense designed to separate greedy albino centric fools from their money.
    Somebody gotta do it…

    Block chain shiite …. Bushie suspects that this term is a derivative from the concept of robbing ‘block-heads’ who have more dollars than sense….
    LOL
    ha ha ha

  43. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    The IMF head thinks banks are dead and central banks should look towards digital currencies.

    Happy to be at the front of the pack on the new age of Digital Dollars!!!
    IMF Head Predicts the End of Banking and the Triumph of Cryptocurrency | Jeffrey A. Tucker
    In a remarkably frank talk at a Bank of England conference, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund has speculated that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency…
    fee.org
    https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffee.org%2Farticles%2Fimf-head-predicts-the-end-of-banking-and-the-triumph-of-cryptocurrency%2F&h=ATOYHEBeKoqlxOTHyrkhgyopGqxrksKUVSQyiKQ9-n7Vomr3rm6WTWHLCfo-VXK3aRmOCEwxGsI7854FrzRvNn4LTR_48RasW9aHTdoFqRHXVWvz8zGmThSbpBsZMN_XyDwg0UvNO26ogi-P5ZuiI2xZPiw7UubjvL1HxJ3WXjJXNMsKLoXAWKb7LCiIz8_Fw2FequCiLlGiXeRjuF8CtObkP44EhBdS9HuklGJDNM_rw3ZxJnHdAin9HUO_9E940ccdDmUb7lN4gUC3mGg0ow

  44. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Vincent
    You are so pathetic….
    Do you recall a recent “IMF head” called Rato? … he should still be in prison in Spain as we speak.

    Nobody gives a jobby what these albino-centric talking heads say…
    Have you not even figured out yet, …that these people will say WHATEVER it pays them to say…?

    Shiite man!!
    You are so bamboozled by these people that even John (who has been drawn and quartered on BU …in some ways worse than angela Skeete and Carson) continues to enjoy your adulation.

    Stop following these shiite people and try and THINK for yourself nuh…!!!

    Steupsss
    Down and off….

  45. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trustnodes.com%2F2017%2F09%2F28%2Fdubai-launch-state-issued-blockchain-based-digital-currency&h=ATO-F5qhD7_bDH23GIL1Fd1rsoKubIA9nuelDbRfn9uT3SgGGKrdlqJudcUqarhlJ56k1Yk1Fbcuhth-4POS4YvzwJnf2E-S0RW36UcLO9nnXwHJKaUP8007jO2grhX05nRHPDlSKEs4

  46. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Bushie

    Chuckle….yuh ez a real moojin fuh true…….I simply copied and pasted that article as I believe all views must contend……I have given no opinion as I am not qualified to do so.

    How de projeck with BBE wukkin up at de garsun???

  47. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    That is EXACTLY Bushie’s point Vincent.

    Share YOUR OWN damn opinions…. form some….. do some THINKING … even if you are wrong like Hal…
    Use your noggins….

    UP an ON man!!!

    …and stop quoting shiite people from Facebook.
    NOBODY is impressed.

    Bushie knows some of those damn people who you quote – and they are dumber that you are – they just don’t know it…

    So …DO NOT follow (quote) those who “know not that they know not…”

  48. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    As to the ‘Garson project’…. It is wukking like a DREAM … indeed like a nightmare.

    Wunna jokers followed foolish advice from some little Cawmere girl and construct that monument to Satan with his trademark pitchfork emerging from the depths of Hell…

    WHAT HAS HAPPENED EVER SINCE…?
    Worse hurricanes in record memory
    Worse traffic horrors since the days of the donkey cart
    Shootings like the wild wild West…
    Economy so bad that John can SERIOUSLY call for us to revert to slavery
    Downgrades worse than Eritrea
    The worse and ugliest PM imaginable – even in a world of Trumps

    Shiite man Vincent … Um wukking… EXACTLY as Bushie tried to tell wunna RIGHT HERE on BU …EVEN BEFORE the idiots built it… check back and see…

    Imagine next year (if you dare)…. at least – for those without whackers…

  49. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger. October 1, 2017 at 5:34 AM #
    “so in essence, the best bitt inc can hope for is becoming a glorified western union”

    Well that is all Bitt Inc. is at the moment; I am not in a position to know what they hope for, but I suspect it is something grander than that.

    As the articles that Vincent posted show (thanks Vincent), blockchain technology is likely to dominate financial services within a decade. Some will see it as the spawn of the devil (Bush Tea), some will see it as an opportunity to get rich (Abed, Adams, Dukharan), some will see it simply as an incremental evolution of capitalist financial technology (PLT).

    It is going to happen, so I choose to improve my understanding of it because I lack the power to stop it. It is like standing in the middle of Congo Rd. and seeing one of those Transport Board Marco Polos coming down at 90… yuh cud stan’ up deh an’ say dat dis en right he gine too fas’, or you cud step aside.

  50. David Avatar
    David

    @Peter

    And yours is a pragmatic position. We have to exist in the world with all of its warts.

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