tZERO, a subsidiary of Overstock, announced that its security token trading platform has gone live yesterday afternoon. tZERO also revealed that its own security tokens are now listed for trading in the secondary market, denoting another step forward in its attempt to offer other virtual assets on its platform.
Interested accredited investors are requested to contact Dinosaur Financial Group, LLC, which acts as the customer-facing or “introducing,” broker-dealer, for trading tZERO tokens. Pro Securities LLC, which is a subsidiary of tZERO, facilitates trading the tokens through the alternative trading system (ATS).
For a considerable period of time, tZERO token investors have been waiting for the launch of the platform, after it was unveiled in 2015. On January 18, while participating in the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne announced that the exchange would go live this week.
He later informed that the technology that drives the platform is ready, but the company has to complete processing the first phase of sign-ups before taking the platform live.
The platform has gone live in accordance with the January timeframe provided in December by Jonathan Johnson, the president of Medici Ventures, an Overstock subsidiary.
Some customers who are on the company’s Telegram mentioned several days before the initial release that the review process with Dinosaur, which started earlier in the month, took several days to finish.
Customers also whined that correspondence with the broker-dealer takes a lot of time, with confirmations related to even wire transfer taking a number of days. Even on late Thursday, some investors were still awaiting approval to start using the platform for trading.
Regarding token trading, Investor Mark Nelson said “I signed up last week, and tokens listed as pending transfer today. I expect them to be tradable tomorrow. The account is open so it is approved, just waiting on the completion of the token transfer.”
For years, Overstock has been preparing itself to put the tZERO into operation. Back in August, the company successfully raised 134 million dollars through token sale using a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens Framework. Through a prototype introduced in April 2018, the company has earlier shown how its platform can operate.
While introducing the prototype, Joe Cammarata, then President of tZERO, forecast the release of the security token trading software in May 2018.
Last week, considering the launch, the company announced changes to its management team and moved Medici’s CEO, Steve Hopkins, to head tZERO. During the process, Joel Weight, Chief Technology Officer of Medici was promoted as COO of the venture fund.
Furthermore, the company has also engaged private equity company GSR Capital to build a token for trading cobalt. The planned security token will assist in discovery, monitoring and purchase of cobalt and may eventually result in the creation of a a tZERO-like platform in Asia.
