Bitcoin Daily: Medici Ventures Invests $8M In Bitt; Cambodia Rolls Out Blockchain Payments

Overstock.com Inc.’s fully owned subsidiary, Medici Ventures, unveiled an $8 million equity investment in its Barbados-based keiretsu firm Bitt, according to a Wednesday (Oct. 28) announcement.

A keiretsu relates to a Japanese business made up of a network of various firms. Bitt was started in 2013 to offer the technology to support an electronic financial ecosystem in the Caribbean. The further investment will let the firm go after market opportunities that speed up cryptocurrency adoption in developing nations, while the transaction provides Medici Ventures with a controlling interest in Bitt.

In other news, the Bakong payments infrastructure of Cambodia, which is based on the blockchain, has been activated, CoinDesk reported.

The rollout provides those in Cambodia with an infrastructure supported by the government for transacting via immediate mobile payments that includes quick response (QR) codes.

Bakong is completely backed by fiat in contrast to many CBDC efforts. The National Bank of Cambodia has the system on top of a Soramitsu-planned Hyperledger Iroha blockchain.

On another note, crypto software firm ConsenSys has been tapped by Societe Generale – Forge for its infrastructure and knowledge, according to a Wednesday (Oct. 28) announcement.

ConsenSys will focus on central bank digital currency (CBDC) creation and management, cross-ledger interoperability, and delivery versus payment. Ken Timsit, global head of Enterprise Solutions at ConsenSys, said in the announcement, “ConsenSys is committed to advances in the CBDC space and has assisted six central banks around the world on CBDC projects.”

And, the Wyoming State Banking Board voted unanimously to provide a bank charter to Avanti Bank & Trust, which a Wednesday (Oct. 28) announcement said provides Avanti with the “same powers as national banks in its approved business lines.”

The firm’s approved business plan encompasses crypto asset custody services, an Avit tokenized U.S. dollar, crypto asset prime services, and application programming interface (API)-supported digital banking offerings. Avanti intends to offer commercial accounts early next year.