Overstock Retail Arm To Be Divested By February 2019

As per reports from The Wall Street Journal, on November 23, Overstock, the American retailing giant’s CEO, Patrick Byrne, declared that they were planning to offer the retail segment of the company in order to focus on blockchain innovation from early next year.

Byrne, who is exceptionally fascinated by the blockchain industry, feels that it has the potential to disrupt Wall Street, in the near future.

As per his declaration, his plans to selloff Overstock.com were so that he could concentrate on Medici Wanders, a company centered on creating blockchain innovation and the adoption of Bitcoin. Overstock, which was established in 1999 to offer surplus and returned goods online was, in 2004 one of the initial major companies to start accepting bitcoins as a means of payment.

Although neither the details of the deal nor the names of potential buyers were unveiled, Byrne told WSJ that by February 2019 the divestment will be completed. Medici Ventures, the subsidiary of Overstock, which centers on blockchain, has been experiencing a tough time . In 2017, USD 22 million was lost, whereas USD 39 million was already lost in the initial nine months of 2018.

In 2018, Overstock has so far recorded a total misfortune of USD 163.7 million, whereas its two competitors Wayfair and Amazon have successfully increased market share and income. But Byrne, who was exceptionally optimistic about his blockchain investments, said,

“I don’t care whether tZero [one of the projects backed by Medici] is losing $2 million a month. We think we’ve got cold fusion on the blockchain side.”

Medici Ventures backed the remote blockchain-driven vote in the United States. West Virginia, where 144 military staff from 24 districts positioned abroad was able to vote through a decentralized Voatz mobile stage.

It too bolsters a land registry stage in Zambia where they have joined forces with the Zambian government to create a decentralized land ownership framework that empowers rural landowners to legitimize their land asset and enter the monetary world.