Overtstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) has recently confirmed that it is preparing to offer Bitcoin on its website, as it is working to fully incorporate a biometric wallet and portfolio platform, Bitsy, that was recently unveiled by its blockchain subsidiary Medici ventures.
The Forbes indicates that the crypto-friendly online retailer has been accepting BTC payments since 2014 and is anticipating to offer Bitcoin on its website in the first half of 2019 via the crypto wallet. In the future, it plans to sell other altcoins.
Patrick byrne, the firm’s founder and CEO, has recently announced Bitsy ’s beta launch by means of a media release, where he explained Overstock plans of embedding the wallet into its website by “q1 or Q2″ of 2019. The report comes at a time crypto markets are seemingly beginning to recover from an extended bear market. Talking to Forbes, the entrepreneur warded off “short-term woes” and equated the market’s volatility to the early days of the web. He said
“When you had all these dot-com companies crashing, it wasn’t because something was wrong with the internet technology. Coins are going to come and go, but we’re long-term long on blockchain technology.”
Easy to use wallet
The Bitsy wallet is supposedly going to be a “user-friendly bridge” between fiat and cryptocurrencies and is scheduled to end its development and testing phase by the end of 2018. It is designed for easy use. As a result, Overstock’s largest customer base of middle-aged women, who are probable not tech savvy, may find it very appealing. The wallet will also allow users control their crypto holdings, rather than relying on third-party custodians or exchanges to hold their funds for them. Byrne added:
“The whole point of crypto is to have a form of money that no authority could control. This is crypto as crypto is meant to be.”
Per Steve hopkins, Medici Venures’ COO, explained that the team behind Bitsy made functionality its top priority, after spending considerable time comprehending how people who don’t have computer knowledge interact with payment related applications. The wallet’s security checks will include facial recognition and fingerprint scans to biometrically identify its owner.
Forbes reported that Bitsy will offer a “patent-pending key recovery mechanism” that will allow consumers to recover their keys in “extreme circumstances.” Byrne finished by saying that Bitsy wallet is “quite special” in comparison to most of the wallets presently available in the cryptocurrency sector.
In August of this year, the stock price of Overstock surged when a Chinese company declared its intention to invest $270 million in its subsidiary tzero. However, the stock quickly erased the profits on lack of consistent buying support.
