Prime Blockchain (PrimeBlock), a new cryptocurrency mining company in the United States, is hiring its inaugural management team after starting mining Bitcoin (BTC) in September. PrimeBlock told Cointelegraph on Thursday that it appointed Goldman Sachs veteran Gaurav Budhrani as the company’s CEO. Budhrani spent over 10 years at Goldman, with his latest position featuring crypto investment banking coverage, including the $98 billion direct listing for Coinbase crypto exchange that Goldman was leading. Budhrani said on his LinkedIn that he completed over $300 billion of transactions across many crypto-related verticals, including “cryptocurrencies, semiconductors, next-gen computing technologies, and software.” The firm has …

tZERO ATS, a broker-dealer which facilitates the secondary trading of digital security tokens, has partnered up with commercial real estate and finance platform Earn.re, according to a joint announcement on March 3. The partnership will allow commercial property issuers on Earn.re to provide extra liquidity for the trading of digital assets on tZERO ATS, subject to the platform’s due diligence. Earn supplies software solutions for the issuance of digital securities backed by real estate. Its users can employ blockchain technology to finance commercial real estate and create fractional shares of debt instruments and equity backed by real estate. tZERO CEO …

Online technology retailer Overstock is converting its blockchain investment wing into a blockchain-focused investment fund as it seeks to maximize profits amid the crypto boom. Overstock.com announced on Monday that its wholly owned blockchain-focused subsidiary, Medici Ventures, will become a limited partnership fund, pending legal and regulatory approval. Medici Ventures, which previously oversaw and managed Overstock’s investments in blockchain-related companies, will cease providing its usual services, which also included software development and design services. The fund is expected to run for eight years, with a capital commitment of $45 million. Third-party venture capital firm Pelion Ventures Partners will act as …

A Utah federal judge has reversed his own dismissal of a class-action lawsuit against online retailer Overstock that alleges it manipulated the market by issuing a security token “Digital Dividend” to shareholders last year. On Wednesday, Judge Dale Kimball reversed his previous decision to dismiss the lawsuit, granting the plaintiffs’ request from October 2020 to file an amended consolidated complaint. The class-action suit was filed by lead plaintiff Mangrove Partners Master Fund in September 2019, alleging that Overstock lied about the purpose of its OSTKO security token — which the plaintiffs claim was designed to “punish” short-sellers. The suit also …

United States’ retail giant Overstock is expanding its blockchain wing tZero with new hires in Ireland. The Utah-based e-commerce company is seeking to hire software and devops engineers to work on its blockchain and security token subsidiary tZero, local tech news agency Silicon Republic reported on Nov. 10. As reported, the new hires for tZero are part of a new team at Overstock’s headquarters in Sligo in western Ireland. The online retail company already employs 90 people working in AI, research and development, and machine learning. Amit Goyal, chief technology officer at tZero, told Cointelegraph that Ireland is the only …

The bullish momentum enjoyed by the security token sector in the first three quarters of 2020 has well and truly subsided, with monthly volume crashing by more than 40% for the second time in a row. Since it tagged almost $22 million in August, monthly security token trade slumped to $9.15 million in September before sliding down to $5.27 million for October. With 98% of the sector’s trade taking place on the Overstock-owned alternative trading system tZERO, it appears Overstock’s plan to bolster volumes through issuing a “digital dividend” in the form of security airdropped to OSTK shareholders has lost …

Despite explosive third-quarter growth in the security token sector, Overstock’s Q3 2020 earnings report reveals that its tZERO alternative trading system (ATS) has continued to lose money. The ATS specializes in security tokens, consistently hosting more than 95% of the sector’s monthly trade volumes. tZERO saw dramatic growth in recent months, with monthly volume growing from less than $1 million in May to push $21.8 worth of trade in August — before sliding back to $9 million in September. Although tZERO’s net revenue increased 97% year-over-year to $11.1 million, Overstock's latest earnings report shows tZERO lost $12.4 million before taxes …

Following four months of spectacular growth, security token trade volumes have crashed by nearly 60%. From May through August, monthly volume gains for the sector ranged between 113% and 280%, posting record highs that increased from $998,000 to nearly $22 million, according to Security Token Group’s reports. The big run-up means that despite the massive slump in trade activity, September was still the second-strongest month on record for security tokens, with more than $9.15 million in combined trade volume. tZERO’s TZROP token, which represents equity in the alternative trading system, comprised more than half of total trade volume, at $5.3 …

A Utah federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit that accused Overstock ($OSTK) of market manipulation by distributing a ‘digital dividend’ of security tokens to shareholders and repeatedly revising retail earnings guidance upward to punish short-sellers. U.S. district judge Dale Kimball granted two motions to dismiss the suit on September 28, finding that the digital dividend did not manipulate the market, and that the revised earnings statements were protected by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. In his judgement Kimball said: “On the day that Overstock announced the dividend, market observers recognized and publicized that the digital dividend would place …

Aspen (ASPD), the security token representing fractional ownership in the St. Regis Aspen Resort — a five-star 179-room hotel in Colorado, has commenced trading on the tZERO alternative trading system. The news marks the first Tezos (XTZ)-based security token to be listed on a regulated platform. ASPD is just the third token listed on tZERO, and is the first third-party platform supported by the exchange. Saum Noursalehi, tZERO’s CEO, stated he is “thrilled to see the St. Regis Aspen digital security trading on the tZERO platform.” “Digitizing and trading private securities like Aspen will be the future model that will …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note The political machinations of Eastern Europe have dominated recent headlines. Protests unprecedented since the fall of the Soviet Union have rocked Belarus for weeks. Outrage over the Aug. 8 election that has seen challenger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya flee the country has threatened the longtime dominion of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, the so-called “last dictator in Europe.” Protestors are calling the 80% win for Lukashenko a fraud. The regime has tried to crack down with its traditional tactics of disinformation and …

On Aug. 18, the Senate Intelligence Committee released volume five of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The new version found that former CEO of Overstock.com and noted crypto advocate Patrick Byrne was a patsy to plans by Maria Butina, served time for espionage on behalf of Russia. The romance between Butina and Byrne was the reason the latter gave upon his departure from Overstock last year. Always an eccentric character, Byrne’s account of the relationship said that he was working with U.S. intelligence. Per one email from Paul Erickson quoted in the report, Byrne was a …