Frmr Top BrokerDealer Babe Meets Bitcoin

blythe masters

(MarketsMuse.com)–Blythe Masters, once considered the “Babe of BrokerDealers” in view of her long tenure at investment bank JPMorgan—which included her being credited for helping to create credit default swaps (CDS), has since aspired to be known as the Blockchain Batgirl through her new role as CEO of the bitcoin-buttressed startup Digital Asset Holdings.

Despite the fact Ms. Masters is undeniably a bona fide member of any Masters of the Universe Club (sic Tom Wolfe/Bonfire of the Vanities)—and however much “blockchain technology” has inspired a cadre of banks and broker-dealers to get on board a train that could evolutionize the financial industry at large, and despite a potential death-knell magazine cover story in October of this year courtesy of Bloomberg Magazine, Masters’ foray into the world of fintech startup funding is proving to be bumpy at best, as the blue ocean this blue-eyed blonde s is swimming in is already populated with migrant banker’s bodies floating ashore and otherwise left beside the yellow-brick road to billion dollar Unicorn valuations.

Notes NY Times business news journalist Nathaniel Popper—one of the 4th estate’s leading bitcoin industry experts, Digital Asset Holdings is running into the types of startup funding challenges that mostly all mortals encounter when pitching ideas scrapped from a whiteboard: questionable valuation, untested technology value proposition, a highly-fragmented and often dysfunctional target audience, and last but not least, an investment structure that is being increasingly challenged for giving preferential ownership treatment to a select group of early investors. In this case, Digital Asset Holdings is providing a very sweet deal and a very exclusive suite of follow-on round financing options to its anchor investor, which happens to be her former employer, JPMorgan.

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The First Crypto Corporate Bond Offering..aka Bitcoin Bond from Overstock

overstock crypto bond offering

BrokerDealer.com profiles retailer Overstock.com’s plan to issue the first crypto corporate bond deal using the technology that underlies cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Below extract is courtesy of Finextra.com. BrokerDealer.com provides the world’s database of broker-dealers registered in the US as well as a comprehensive directory of non-US brokerdealers based in 30+ countries throughout the globe.

Last Autumn, the firm acquired a 25% stake in alternative trading system (ATS) PRO Securities as part of a long-term ambition to use the core blockchain technology to create a cryptosecurity trading system, in which computer algorithms are used to trade virtual stocks issued by public companies.The company is now scouting institutional investor interest in its first digital bond issues, which is powered by Overstock.com’s TØ.com technology – a name that refers to the fact that trades on the system securely settle the same day, as opposed to the T+3 convention on Wall Street.”The cryptorevolution has arrived on Wall Street,” says Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne. “We’re making it official by offering the world’s first cryptosecurity.”According to Byrne, issuing the TIGRcub bonds on the TØ.com platform proves that cryptotechnology can facilitate transparent and secure access to capital by emerging companies. He says that a circular informing investors of the cryptobond offering was distributed on 1 June, 2015.

Overstock.com Gets Into Bitcoin-BrokerDealer Biz with Stake in ATS

Patrick Byrne,

BrokerDealer.com blog update profiles the latest chapter in CEO Patrick Byrne’s playbook to become a blockchain billionaire and scheme to open a bitcoin exchange via his acquisition of a  25% stake in PRO Securities, an SEC-registered alternative trading system. Whether Byrne is a Blockhead or will prove to be the first Blockchain billionaire remains to be seen, but he is one determined guy.

Online retailer Overstock has stepped up its plans to issue “digital securities” through the acquisition of a 25% stake in alternative trading system (ATS) PRO Securities, according to Wired.

Last year Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne hired developers and lawyers in an effort to create a platform – dubbed ‘Medici’ – that could use the core blockchain technology to create a cryptosecurity trading system, in which computer algorithms are used to trade virtual stocks issued by public companies.

Then, in a recent prospectus filed with the SEC related to the sale of securities, the company revealed: “We may decide to offer any of the securities described in this prospectus as digital securities, meaning the securities will be uncertificated securities, the ownership and transfer of which are recorded on a cryptographically-secured distributed ledger system using technology similar to (or the same as) the distributed ledger technology used for trading digital currencies.”

Details of how this would be achieved have now emerged, with Wired reporting that last autumn a stake was acquired in SEC-regulated PRO Securities, which has now amended its charter to say that it may handle trades in digital securities via blockchain-related technology.

Bryne has told Wired that his firm has already built the blockchain-related tech on top of PRO Securities platform and is now ready to show it to regulators.

NASDAQ Now Noodling With Bitcoin Blockchain

BrokerDealer.com update profiling Wall Street’s latest Bitcoin initiative courtesy of extract from CNN.com.

The Nasdaq stock exchange is tapping Bitcoin’s powerful new transaction technology to create a more secure, efficient system to trade stocks. Step 1: Pilot to take place in fledgling Nasdaq Private Market

High-tech bankers are starting to realize Bitcoin could revolutionize trading. Nasdaq (NDAQ), a favorite exchange among many technology companies, is making the first move.

On Monday, the stock market announced it will start using a blockchain system to keep records for its Nasdaq Private Market, which handles trading of shares in the pre-IPO phase before a company goes public.

Nasdaq sees the blockchain’s perfect recordkeeping as a major step in the right direction for more transparency. The pre-IPO market doesn’t typically see as much trading and what does occur is often by a tight circle of employees and early investors.

“Blockchain technology will provide extensive integrity, audit ability, governance and transfer of ownership capabilities,” Nasdaq said in its public announcement.

This doesn’t mean Nasdaq is using actual Bitcoins. But by using Bitcoin’s core technology, this is a major acknowledgment of Bitcoin’s contribution to finance and trade. This is the first time the world has seen a trading system that doesn’t require a trusted middleman. It sounds boring, but in the banking world, it’s revolutionary.

Nasdaq’s experiment is a limited one. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal referred to Nasdaq’s pre-IPO market, which launched in January 2014, as “a fledgling marketplace.” But if it works out, expect to see it use the blockchain concept elsewhere.

“Utilizing the blockchain is a natural digital evolution for managing physical securities,” Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld said in a statement.

 

 

Overstock Looking Into Brokerdealers Only Bitcoin-Style Exchange

Utah Software Engineer Mints Physical Bitcoins

Brokerdealer.com blog update profiles the continued intergration of the popular cyrpto currency, Bitcoin, as Overstock has revealed plans that it may issue up to $500 million in stock through blockchain-style technology, such as bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a form of currency that is tied directly to the Internet and is the world’s first free market, decentralized global currency. It is operated through an open-source software so there is no central control unlike the US dollar or Euro. Similarly to gold, only 21,000,000 Bitcoins will ever be created so the value of the Bitcoin continues to rise as time goes on. Bitcoins can be exchanged for goods and services as well as currencies such as the US dollar and the Euro. As long as people trust that Bitcoin has value, people will continue to invest in it.

Brokerdealer.com’s database has many qualified brokerdealers who are prepared to help you navigate the world of Bitcoin and how you can use it to your advantage when it comes to investing. 

Overstock is an American online retailer headquartered in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. It initially sold surplus and returned merchandise on an online e-commerce marketplace but in recent years has expanded to sell new merchandise as well. 

This brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of Finextra News’ article, “Overstock looks to issue Bitcoin-style stocks” with an excerpt below.

Last year Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne hired developers and lawyers in an effort to create a platform – dubbed ‘Medici’ – that could use the core blockchain technology to create a cryptosecurity trading system, in which computer algorithms are used to trade virtual stocks issued by public companies.

The firm has now filed a prospectus related to the sale of securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission, adding: “We may decide to offer any of the securities described in this prospectus as digital securities, meaning the securities will be uncertificated securities, the ownership and transfer of which are recorded on a cryptographically-secured distributed ledger system using technology similar to (or the same as) the distributed ledger technology used for trading digital currencies.”

The prospectus says that these digital securities would not be traded on any existing exchange but on a specific system registered with the SEC as an ATS open only to subscribers that agree to trade exclusively through vetted broker dealers.

To continue reading about the brokerdealer-only Bitcoin exchange plan for Overstock, click here. Additional coverage on this story can also be found at MarketsMuse.com .