Overstock invests in Belgian blockchain voting startup SettleMint

Rage Comment : t0 is a holding subsidiary of Overstock, an American online retail giant. It is a financial trading platform based on blockchain technology and has obtained the stock issuance license from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In order to implement the project, Medici Ventures, Overstock's venture capital arm, invested in the Caribbean digital currency exchange Bitt and cooperated with several cryptocurrency startups and Source Capital Group, an investment bank in Connecticut, USA. This investment in SettleMint, a Belgian blockchain voting startup, is also partly to improve the voting mechanism of the t0 platform.

Translation: Annie_Xu

E-commerce giant Overstock invests in Belgian blockchain startup

The amount of SettleMint's seed round of financing has not been disclosed. It was invested by Medici Ventures, the venture capital arm of Overstock, whose main investment target is blockchain-based trading platform initiatives. In April, Overstock invested $4 million in Caribbean digital currency exchange Bitt. In addition, the company's cryptocurrency trading projects also include investments in PeerNova and Identity Mind.

According to the company, the investment in SettleMint is intended to improve the voting mechanism of the t0 platform. The startup recently announced a new voting tool for this year’s US presidential election.

Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne said:

"Two years ago, we discovered six essential functions for the new era, one of which was voting. One of the factors that attracted Medici Ventures' capital to SettleMint was its blockchain voting project. The immutability and ubiquity of blockchain enable it to maximize people's confidence in the democratic process."

Last year, blockchain shareholder voting has been the focus of enterprises, and research institutions such as the European Parliament have also stated that Bitcoin can be used as the underlying technology for voting management. This year, Broadridge, a large proxy voting service company, also began to study blockchain voting.

Overstock’s vote marks a further step in the company’s reforms to blockchain stock trading, with plans to issue shares on the blockchain next month.

Source Capital Group, a Connecticut-based investment bank, has partnered with Overstock on the stock offering. Overstock has also made a large investment, with Medici posting a pre-tax loss of $3 million in the third quarter of last year.