Overstock chief executive Patrick Byrne has revealed details about the initial coin offering (ICO) for tZERO’s SEC- and FINRA-compliant token exchange. Byrne expects the tZERO ICO to “raise a fortune” and potentially set a new record for token sale fundraising.
Overstock CEO Reveals tZERO ICO Details
Last month, Overstock announced that tZERO — one of its blockchain portfolio companies — had entered into a joint venture with the Argon Group and RenGen to develop the first U.S. regulated alternative trading system (ATS) and platform that will be support trading for security tokens. Soon after, Byrne revealed that tZERO would fund the development of this platform with an ICO, a crowdsale that he predicts will “raise a fortune”– $200 million to $500 million “easily”.
At Money 20/20, Byrne stated that the tZERO ICO — which will only be open to accredited investors — will run from November 15 until approximately December 31 and will be hosted on the recently-announced SAFT Launch platform. As expected, tZERO will embrace the “security” classification, enabling the startup to incorporate both profit-sharing and utility features into the token.
Specifically, Byrne explained that the token will entitle investors to a currently-unspecified percentage of tZERO’s quarterly profits. Additionally, platform users will receive a discount on trading fees if they choose to pay with the token instead of USD.
Byrne forecasts that the launch of tZERO will represent the “tip of the spear” for institutionally-friendly blockchain technologies and investments:
“Three years ago I stood up in front of an audience for the opening Keynote speech at Bitcoin 2014, in Amsterdam, and told the world that the main event of Bitcoin is not Bitcoin, it is the Blockchain, and it would change the world,” stated Byrne in a media release. “While many doubted, the tZERO team worked hard to be at the tip of the spear in creating and launching credible, capable and institutionally scalable blockchain technologies for crypto assets. Today those efforts are attracting interest from both the crypto community and the largest global institutional funds.”
‘Most Important’ Money 20/20 Announcement
This year’s Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas has served as a forum for several other significant blockchain announcements intended to attract support from institutional investors. As CCN reported, Bloq — a blockchain startup co-founded by SegWit2x developer Jeff Garzik — announced that it is developing a cross-blockchain cryptocurrency called Metronome that is intended to bring stability to the crypto economy and make institutional firms less hesitant to engage with the ecosystem.
However, although Metronome attracted a great deal of media attention, many industry observers believe that Patrick Byrne’s announcement of key details about the tZERO ICO will have even more far-reaching implications. Chainstone Labs chief executive Bruce Fenton, for instance, called it the “Most important announcement at Money 20/20”.