Overstock buys stake in broker-dealer for its Medici project

Overstock.com announced recently that it has acquired a 24.9 percent stake in an undisclosed "registered broker-dealer" in an effort to "develop and license software to trade cryptosecurities using the Bitcoin network and its protocols." It is said to have paid $250,000.

The announcement was made in the company's 10-k annual report filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week.

Overstock's Patrick Byrne revealed the company's plans to create a registered marketplace for "cryptosecurities" last year. Called the "Medici" project, it aims to "democratize Wall Street" and eliminate the intermediaries in securities trading, similar to bitcoin.

He said that he wants the company "to be an adult partner to everyone involved in this" and that he doesn't "want to be an adversary." The project aims to develop a fully regulated platform and has associated with a legal team experienced with cryptocurrency to see how this can be done.