Bitt Enhances Global Digital Currency Expertise with the Appointment of Criteo CBDC Founding Team of Jim Shinn and Erik Bethel

SALT LAKE CITY, July 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitt, the world's leading central bank digital currency (CBDC) and stablecoin platform provider, has added the award-winning CBDC team from Criteo, another of the major players in the industry. The founders of Criteo's CBDC business are bringing strategic expertise and deep relationships to Bitt's global development and expansion efforts.

Jim Shinn, a technology entrepreneur, scholar, and former U.S. government official with a long history in public service and foreign affairs, will join Bitt as Executive Director and Economist.

Erik Bethel, a global finance polyglot, with extensive senior executive experience in the private and public sectors of the U.S., Latin America, and China, will be Bitt's new Head of Business Development.

Bitt's CEO Brian Popelka, said, "As key global players with vast and multifaceted industry knowledge, Jim and Erik's experience will further secure Bitt's position as the clear leader in the international CBDC space. The Criteo team are joining Bitt at an exciting time in the world's rapidly expanding CBDC industry."

After winning the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Global CBDC Challenge, the Criteo team successfully engaged over 12 central banks in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Central Asia, advancing their CBDC programs. "While Criteo is re-focusing on its core e-commerce business, we now have the opportunity to fulfill these CBDC engagements using Bitt's market-leading Digital Currency Management System," says Jim Shinn, one of the founders of Criteo's CBDC efforts.

Erik added, "We repeatedly encountered Bitt as the most advanced competitor in all our market engagements. They have an outstanding reputation as the leading supplier of robust CBDC platforms, with a complete product suite and with live deployments on a variety of robust ledger platforms."

The Bitt Digital Currency Management System (DCMS) is the technology behind most of the live retail CBDC deployments in the world. Among its many uniquely salient features is that Bitt's DCMS is interoperable with best-in-class transaction networks, legacy financial system infrastructure, AML compliance service providers, and existing payment service providers. Central banks benefit from Bitt's long-standing digital currency expertise, having been developing digital currency solutions since 2014. Bitt has established relationships with an impressive list of auxiliary partners and associations which enhance the digital currency experience for all within a country's financial ecosystem. Bitt's current leadership has proven digital currency deployment experience in countries within Africa, North and Central America, the Caribbean, and Europe. The addition of Jim and Erik will solidify Bitt as the global digital currency leader and further expand the company's central bank and financial institution client base. 

About Bitt
Bitt is a financial technology company that provides digital currency solutions to central banks, financial institutions, and ecosystem participants worldwide. Bitt’s Digital Currency Management System (DCMS) provides the secure infrastructure for monetary authorities to deploy CBDCs, and for financial institutions to integrate digital currencies into their financial service offerings. Bitt is a portfolio company of Medici Ventures, L.P., a blockchain-focused fund. The general partner of that fund is an entity affiliated with Pelion Venture Partners. Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) is a limited partner of Medici Ventures, L.P. For more information on Bitt, please visit https://www.bitt.com.

About Overstock.com
Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) is an online retailer and technology company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Its leading e-commerce website sells a broad range of new home products at low prices, including furniture, décor, area rugs, bedding and bath, home improvement, and more. The online shopping features millions of products that tens of millions of customers visit each month. Overstock regularly posts information about the Company and other related matters on the Newsroom and Investor Relations pages on its website, Overstock.com.

O, Overstock.com, O.com, and Club O are registered trademarks of Overstock.com, Inc. Other service marks, trademarks and trade names which may be referred to herein are the property of their respective owners.

About Pelion
Pelion Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm. Currently investing out of their seventh fund, Pelion invests in Seed and Series A software companies across the United States. Notable investments include: Cloudflare, Riverbed, Divvy (acquired by Bill.com), and Weave.

Media contact:
Chris Burnett
Marketing Manager Bitt
E-mail: pr@bitt.com
Website: www.bitt.com

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1860216/Bitt_CEO_on_Criteo_Executives.mp4