All 70,000 residents living in Dominica will be eligible to receive bitcoin

(CoinDesk) All 70,000 residents living on the Caribbean nation of Dominica will
be eligible to receive bitcoin as part of ‘The Bit Drop’ project, an
upcoming collaboration between bitcoin businesses, interest groups and
local government officials.

Scheduled to take place on 14th March3, 2015, The Bit Drop will feature an island-wide party boasting ‘celebrities, musicians and
supporters of bitcoin’, as well as education booths and free giveaways.

Speaking to CoinDesk, project manager Sarah Blincoe
suggested the ambitious project started with a simple question: how do
you get bitcoin into the hands of as many people as possible? From
there, she explained, a plan was launched to distribute an undisclosed
amount of bitcoin to island residents via text messaging.

While the event has serious goals, Blincoe said the group decided to adopt a lighthearted tone for the project, adding:

 

“Who doesn’t like a party? No one in the Caribbean, that is for sure.”

Dominica, with its relatively small population and gross domestic
product (GDP), proved an ideal location for the event, according to
Blincoe.

The country’s high mobile penetration rates, however, may have been
the most compelling factor. Blincoe believes Dominica’s smartphone users
will be able to solve real-world problems using bitcoin, adding:

 

“The island has opportunities for remittance due to many
islanders moving for work to [other] islands, as well as the local
medical university with students from around the globe. Dominica
citizens also face currency exchange issues when traveling to nearby
islands.”

Data from Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL),
a regulatory body overseeing telecommunications in Dominica, bolsters
this claim, suggesting there were roughly 100,000 mobile subscriptions
active in the country in 2012. Additionally, bitcoin penetration is
comparatively low in Dominica.