Rumors have been spread over the past few days saying Overstock.com is building software based on the bitcoin protocol technology. Previously, Patrick Byrne, Overstock founder and CEO, had said that Overstock was studying the possibility of developing such software, and now, he has publicly announced the company has began the designated bitcoin protocol project.
Byrne has confirmed that the company hired two of the developers behind CounterParty; these coders will help build digital software based on the bitcoin protocol which any company could potentially use to issue financial securities over the net. Basically, Byrne wants to implement the Blockchain technology and the bitcoin protocol in order to displace the traditional third parties who control the world stock markets.
The project named “Medici”, seeks to democratize and decentralize Wall Street in much the same way digital currencies have decentralized currency and payments. With this disruptive technology it will be possible to operate apart from traditional stock exchanges, from the big corporate banks, and to eliminate certain flaws in the system while reducing the costs associated with issuing and juggling stock bonds.
Byrne says Overstock will be splitting into another company that will continue to develop the software and provide various services to those who use it.
Byrne said:
“There is an opportunity to recreate the financial world as we know it in the parallel universe that is the blockchain; we are writing rules for this whole new universe. This could be as big or even bigger than the internet”
Byrne as pointed that he is seriously interested in following all the rules when it comes to be compliant with regulations and he has already hired a team of lawyers from the international law firm Perkins Coie, which is believed to have an expertise in the digital currency ecosystem.
Many others players in the Bitcoin space, also have visions of building on Bitcoin to disrupt not just finance, but also law, governance and politics. This is seen as a powerful technology that can change many of these stances, and disrupt the traditional financial markets and institutions running it.
Byrne says the in the future and after all the project goals have been accomplished, the company behind this it will help other businesses take their companies public and juggle transactions. The whole idea is to charge about 20 percent or less of what Wall Street banks charge for similar services today.
Overstock has been one of the first big companies to start accepting bitcoin and now it becomes the first big multinational corporation to publicly recognize the potential of the blockchain technology and using it to change the traditional stock market. This marks the beginning of a new era for the bitcoin protocol and for the infinite developments that can be made with this disruptive technology.
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photo source 1:cnbc
photo source 2:consumeraffairs