Online retail giant Overstock.com, Inc. last week announced the closing of its rights offering of Blockchain Voting Series A Preferred Shares and Voting Series B Preferred Shares.
“This offering is historic in that we have successfully issued public securities that exist only on a blockchain,” said Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne. “In doing so, we have demonstrated to the world that there is indeed a path toward applying blockchain technology to capital markets in a way that complies with regulatory requirements and is accessible and practical for both issuers and investors. In the process, we raised a meaningful amount of capital, which Overstock can use to continue fueling our growth.”
Source Capital Group, Inc. served as the dealer-manager for the rights offering. The company raised total gross proceeds of approximately $10.9 million before payment of the dealer-manager fee or any other expenses.
Of the 695,898 shares sold, 126,565 were Series A Blockchain shares, the release said. With this, Overstock has become the first publicly traded company to issue stock over the internet, Wired noted.
The blockchain shares are trading on a registered alternative trading system utilizing Medici Ventures’ t0 platform. Medici Ventures is a wholly owned subsidiary of Overstock. The trading symbol for the Series A shares has been changed to OSTKP. The Series B shares will trade in the over-the-counter market and are expected to be quoted on the OTCQB operated by OTC Markets Group.
“An enormous amount of work went into this offering,” said Jonathan Johnson, chairman of Overstock’s board of directors and president of Medici Ventures. “We created new technologies and formed novel partnerships while shattering formidable barriers.”
