Friday, March 18, 2016

Overstock.com, Inc. (OSTK): Agnostic t0.com Trading Platform is a Game Changer

The choice between agnostic and exclusive trading platforms has many similarities to the battle between Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) over the years. Apple’s Steve Jobs always touted his idea of a closed or exclusive system as being much better than Microsoft’s open or agnostic system. Each has its advantages, but as far as thinking about the customer and taking a utilitarian approach, the agnostic argument wins out every time. Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) is following the agnostic approach with its new trading platform, t0.com, and believes it will revolutionize trading platforms moving forward.

Overstock.com announced at the 41st Annual International Futures Industry Conference its plan to complete the world’s first public offering using proprietary blockchain technology. The offering will allow Overstock.com shareholders to purchase Overstock.com blockchain or traditional preferred stock. The blockchain preferred stock will trade and settle exclusively through the t0.com platform and its alternative trading system.

“This is yet another historic event — the creation of a security that will trade and settle entirely on a distributed ledger,” said Patrick M. Byrne, CEO of t0.com, in a press release. “I’ve said from the beginning that blockchain technology is going to change the world of finance forever, and we’re leading that charge.”

t0.com is Overstock.com’s financial technology subsidiary and the leader in developing and deploying blockchain-based financial products to increase efficiency and transparency in capital markets.

Blockchain is a distributed database based on the bitcoin protocol that maintains a continuously growing list of data records hardened against tampering and revision, even by its operators. The initial and most widely known application of block chain technology is the public ledger of transactions for bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a digital asset and a payment system invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, who published the invention in 2008 and released it as open-source software in 2009. The system is peer-to-peer; users can transact directly, without an intermediary. Transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a publicly-distributed ledger called the blockchain. The ledger uses bitcoin as its unit of account. The system works without a central repository or single administrator, which has led the U.S. Treasury to categorize bitcoin as a decentralized virtual currency. Bitcoin is often called the first cryptocurrency, although prior systems existed. Bitcoin is more correctly described as the first decentralized digital currency. It is the largest of its kind in terms of total market value.

t0.com technologies are built upon decentralized, cryptographically protected ledgers, which anybody can access and inspect. This ensures fairness to the entire market, without regard for size or geographic location. t0.com’s radical transparency and true settlement combine to grant real, unambiguous ownership nearly instantly. If you buy it, you own it. It’s that simple.

For more information, please visit www.t0.com


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