Overstock.com puts a lot of stock in blockchain
More than four years ago, Overstock.com became the first major retailer to accept bitcoin as a form of payment for its goods. Today, it accepts more than 40 versions of the digital currency for online purchases and it holds onto about half of all bitcoins it receives.
While bitcoin may have first caught the online retailer's eye, it's the technology behind the digital tokens – blockchain – that has really captured Overstock.com's investment wallet.
About the same time Overstock.com was embracing bitcoin for payments, it put a venture capital stake in blockchain distributed ledger technology (DLT) through Medici Ventures, its Salt Lake City-based subsidiary created for just that purpose.