Overstock.com attempting to democratize Wall Street with Bitcoin? [View all]
Overstock.com Assembles Coders to Create a Bitcoin-Like Stock Market
By Cade Metz 10.06.14 | 5:15 PM |
Overstock.com is building software, based on the bitcoin digital currency, that could allow the big-name etailer to issue corporate stock over the internet, sidestepping traditional stock exchanges such as the NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange.
The Salt Lake City-based company recently hired two of the developers behind CounterPartyan online project that helps individuals and businesses build all sorts of financial services atop the worldwide network of machines that drive bitcoinand according to Overstock founder and CEO Patrick Byrne, these coders will help build cryptosecurity software that any company could potentially use to issue financial securities over the net. Mirroring bitcoinknown as a crytocurrencythese securities would be controlled by cryptographic algorithms running across computers spread across the globe, not by a central stock exchange.
Code-named Medici, the project aims to democratize Wall Street in much the same way bitcoin seeks to democratize currency and payments. By operating separate from traditional stock exchanges and the big corporate banks, it could eliminate certain loopholes in the system and reduce the costs associated with issuing and juggling stock.
Full article:
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/overstock-com-assembles-coders-build-bitcoin-like-stock-market?partner=skygrid
Not sure what to think of this but it is an intriguing concept.....