Discount Retailer Overstock Has New Target: Upending Wall Street
- Company is close to issuing digital stock that uses blockchain
- Aim is radically speeding up how long it takes to trade shares
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Overstock.com Inc., which is aiming to radically change how stocks and bonds are bought and sold, is close to unveiling the first securities-trading system using the blockchain technology that makes bitcoin possible.
The company, best known as a discount retailer, will issue a digital version of its own stock that can then be traded on Pro Securities LLC, an alternative trading system Overstock invested in in 2014, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Byrne said in an interview. Because it’s bypassing traditional exchanges like the Nasdaq Stock Market and New York Stock Exchange, the trades will clear nearly instantaneously instead of taking several days.