tZero security tokens now traded live

tZero, the blockchain subsidiary of retail giant Overstock.com, has announced that the secondary market for tZero security tokens is now live.

In a press release, the company said that accredited investors will be able to trade the tokens with a digital securities brokerage account at Dinosaur Financial Group, LLC, which has partnered with tZero subsidiary PRO Securities, LLC in offering an alternative system for the trading of the tokens, limited to market hours at the moment.

The tokens were first offered in a security token offering (STO) last August, where 1,000 investors around the world managed to raise $134 million for tZero.

tZero Executive Chairman Patrick Byrne has spoken favorably of STOs as a better option compared to initial coin offerings (ICOs), the latter losing favor among investors over the past year.

The company said that the live trading of tZero, with Dinosaur as broker-dealer, has laid the groundwork for the trading of other tokenized assets, including debt instruments, commodities, and property.

Byrne said, “A new efficient and transparent path for capital formation via blockchain is now a reality, but those who have followed our journey know that today’s announcement is just one more step down a path.”

He added that he was working to have security tokens revolutionize traditional capital markets, where “companies achieve trust through cryptographically-protected algorithms rather than through rent-seeking middlemen.”

Byrne, the founder of Overstock.com, has said that he was planning to focus primarily on his blockchain business, moving away from retail, and has said that Overstock.com may be sold early this year, although no names of buyers have been given.

tZero CEO Saum Noursalehi said, “The world of security tokens has lacked a regulated venue for secondary trading… The trading of our own security tokens is the crossing of the Rubicon for the new world of digital assets. This will create liquidity, democratize access, bring transparency and efficiency to global markets and accelerate the adoption of security tokens.”

Elliot Grossman, senior vice-president of Dinosaur, said he saw the opening of the secondary market for tZero’s security token as “a truly evolutionary step toward improving transactional transparency for investors, while providing an efficient and secure alternative to over-the-counter trading or a listing on one of the legacy stock exchanges for companies seeking to raise capital.”

Overstock.com has announced that it will be paying a part of its taxes in cryptocurrency through the OhioCrypto.com platform, which will make it the first major company in the U.S. to pay taxes with virtual assets.