Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.
In one of the recent press release, Overstock.com announced that its Blockchain subsidiary tZERO has started selling Simple Agreements for Future Equity (SAFEs). A spokesperson has confirmed that currently, the white paper of the sales are being shared only with the accredited investors. tZERO CEO Patrick Byrne said that there has been a notable investor activity as the sale managed to attract nearly 2000 accredited investors.
“We had, yesterday, 2,000 accredited investors come and apply and get the process going,” said Byrne. The company has decided to have a two-month time frame starting December 18, 2017 to Feb 18, 2018. However, Bryne said that the company is deciding to shorten this time period. As of the current status, Dec 18, 2017 to Jan 18, 2018 is called as the ‘pre-sale’ period during which company will be selling SAFEs to only strategic purchasers which the company has identified as accredited investors. In the subsequent phased from Jan 18 to Feb 18, the company will be selling SAFEs to another batch of accredited investors.
The $250 million ICO has received an overwhelming response and institutional investors are said to have pumped more than $100 million in just the initial 12 hours of launch. Moreover, above 10,000 subscribers have registered for getting the status of accredited investors on the Saftlaunch platform where the ICO is hosted. Some of the initial offers by individual investors are said to be as high as $5 million for token allocations.
Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne said: “Overstock is proud to be the market-leading enterprise embracing the crypto revolution. Recognizing the blockchain technology-driven transformation and disruption already underway across numerous industries, Overstock today opens the tZERO ICO. Beginning with the ‘pre-sale’ round, I am confident that prominent investors from around the globe will propel tZERO toward achieving its mission of bringing greater efficiency and transparency to capital markets.”
tZERO CEO Joe Cammarata added: “For the last two years it has been exciting to continuously innovate and disrupt a financial market ecosystem that is ripe for improvement. With this first-ever regulated security token, we are entering a new world of capital formation that I believe will become Wall Street 2.0.”
tZERO is the subsidiary of Overstock and is claims that “first-ever preferred equity security token” that have been issued and traded. It is kind of an Alternative Trading System (ATS) which is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This is a completely different blockchain based trading system that has emerged from the Medici Blockchain developed by online retail giant Overstock three years back in 2014.
Alchemist Founder and architect of the Ethereum ICO – Steven Nerayoff said “tZERO’s ICO represents a watershed moment in the financial blockchain revolution. It’s backed by an all-star team of crypto and business pioneers. What makes tZERO a game changer is the team’s unique ability to fuse the traditional finance world with the bold, innovative crypto community. Alchemist is delighted to offer tZERO its extensive experience in counseling some of the most successful crowdsales in history on strategy, token economics, and compliance-related guidance.”
Bryne refused to discuss any specific bonus to investors due to some legal constraints under SEC regulations. However, he said that the largest “bonus coupons” will be given to the first $10 million sold, with an attractive bonus to the next $90 million. He also said that all investors will be getting some kind of bonus.