Overstock.com’s t0 to Launch Regulated Security Token Exchange

Overstock.com’s Tzero is planning to launch a regulated exchange for security tokens in collaboration with Box Digital Markets. The companies will seek the approval of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the new exchange.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Security Token Exchange

Overstock.com’s fintech subsidiary t0.com Inc (Tzero) and Box Digital Markets announced on Tuesday their plan to “launch industry’s first security token exchange.” The new platform will “list and publicly trade security tokens for companies that issue, or convert existing stock to, security tokens,” according to their joint announcement. Both companies will equally own the new joint venture and they will seek the approval of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for their new exchange.

Overstock CEO and founder Patrick Byrne told Reuters in a phone interview:

I would like to see something trading in Q3.

Tzero is the first SEC-regulated crypto alternative trading system (ATS). Box Digital Markets is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Box Holdings Group LLC, which owns and operates Box Options Exchange, a Registered National Securities Exchange under Section 6 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The CEO of Box Digital and president of Box Options Exchange will serve as the CEO of the new joint venture.

Byrne noted:

Going hand in hand with a blue-chip partner like Box would be a great advantage for us.

Tzero CEO Saum Noursalehi added, “Together [with Box Digital], we will continue to work with the SEC as we develop a first-of-its-kind platform that will integrate blockchain capital markets into the current U.S. National Market System.”

STOs Instead of ICOs

In April, Byrne told CNBC that there is a safer way to raise money than initial coin offerings (ICOs), referring to Security Token Offerings (STOs). “It’s the new term…The industry is distinguishing very clearly now between ICOs and STOs,” he detailed, adding:

The ICO craze of last year created a toxic waste dump of financial assets. To me, that world of ICOs is a Superfund site…What we’re developing is a mechanism so that there will be a legal way to go forward and not create any new toxic waste.

After the company launched its own token sales on December 18 last year, the SEC began investigating its offerings in February. “While the SEC is trying to determine whether there have been any violations of the federal securities laws, the investigation does not mean that the SEC has concluded that anyone has violated the law,” Tzero explained.

What do you think of Tzero launching a regulated security token exchange? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Overstock.com, and T0.com.

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