Overstock Founder – Blockchain Can Radically Shift Government Services

Patrick Byrne founder and CEO of Overstock.com is always ready to place a big bet on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Once again he is getting ready to implement astonishing plans in the field of distributed ledger technology.

Byrne, who is also the chairman of Medici Ventures subsidiary tZero, believes that blockchain technology has the capability to create a humungous shift in the manner in which financial services are provided. Being an early promoter of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, he believes that it is the right time for a big shake up of government services across the world and blockchain is the most suited for such purpose.

Regarding blockchain, Byrne said “I am focusing on the idea of building government-as-a-service, a set of applications and companies that, between them, can bring blockchain to different services that governments provide. It will make government superefficient, inexpensive and incapable of being bribed.”

In some countries, his vision of blockchain technology is already becoming a reality. He revealed that roughly 50,000 homes in Zambia have been served by Medici’s land-governance platform that uses blockchain technology and the government has given the green light to place documents pertaining to another 300,000 homes on blockchain.

Byrne said “We anticipate doing the whole country. We are building a platform where everyone can interact with the government paperlessly.”

Byrne cited Venezuela as the country which can undergo a sea of change with the implementation of blockchain technology. Venezuela is undergoing a huge political and economic instability mainly due to a corrupt government and handicapped financial infrastructure.

Byrne said “We could step into Venezuela with six laptops and create not only a functioning society but arguably one with the most advanced government systems in the world. We could bring them a central bank on the laptop. Everyone in Venezuela downloads a free app, and suddenly you have the most advanced monetary system on the planet.”

The blockchain enthusiast’s is fully occupied currently as Overstock.com is looking to divest its retail business in the near future as the firm wants to focus totally on blockchain. In this regard, the company launched tZero, a platform facilitating trading of security-token, in January. tZero aims to list startup firms and later on stocks of publicly traded companies.

For Byrne, the primary aim is to employ blockchain technology to impart a radical shift in financial services. To realize the objective, he aims to sign up several countries soon. After that, Byrne believes that a massive remodeling of government services will take place.

Byrne was also unwilling to provide his forecast on Bitcoin’s price.