The Bitcoin Foundation has announced its first affiliate group in Asia, with Bitcoin Foundation Bangladesh becoming the latest local advocacy group to join its international network, coindesk reports.
The addition of Bangladesh means that the Bitcoin Foundation has built an international chain of affiliates in just eight months.
“To be effective in positively improving lives, it’s important we join together, align our goals, become educated and coordinate our efforts to encourage Bitcoin’s adoption,” The president of Bitcoin Foundation Bangladesh, Sazeeb said in their official website.
Sazeeb has been the driving force behind the new founding chapter, with support from international Bitcoin evangelist Roger Ver, who appears on the group’s site as an official advisor.
Also on the Bangladesh board are local entrepreneurs Sadia Sultana Mou, Mizanur Rahman, and Jamil.
The international Bitcoin Foundation has been hosting a series of informational webinars for other groups interested in becoming affiliates.
Affiliate Director Mark Woods espoused the benefits of formal links with the Foundation for new Bitcoin organisations, as opposed to spending the energy and resources required to build those structures from the ground up.
There were also Bangladesh’s specific needs that the Bitcoin Foundation had identified and cooperated in preparing an agenda.
Bangladesh counts on remittances from foreign-based workers and even local employees sending money from large cities to small towns as a significant contributor to its GDP. Estimates put income from remittances in 2012-2013 at $14.5bn.