Several interesting stories are coming from Overstock.com on Friday, two of which are Bitcoin-specific, and one that shines a sliver of light on CEO Patrick Byrne’s Medici project.
The Company Has Offered Staff the Option to Receive Pay in Bitcoins
A company press release sent out Friday morning EST buried what might be big news: “Byrne noted that, as a further indication of the company's commitment to the new technology, Overstock.com is preparing to offer employees the option of being paid in Bitcoin.”
This is one facet of the company’s ongoing push for wider adoption of cryptocurrencies, the release reads. Another part of that push received top billing in the company’s release.
Overstock Has Installed a BTM
The Salt Lake City corporate headquarters for Overstock now sports a new two-way BTM so that employees and members of the public can exchange their bitcoins for fiat, or vice versa.
An Overstock representative said the BTM is a CoinOutlet machine with no limits or fees. The BTM will be accessible 24 hours a day
“Moving cryptocurrencies out of the realm of geeks and into the realm of the rest of us requires making changes at all levels of the financial ecosystem," Byrne said. "An important part of this effort is making [a] digital money ATM accessible."
The news Friday marks the one-year anniversary of Overstock’s announcement that it would accept bitcoin payments. According to the company’s release, customers have purchased about US$3 million worth of merchandise from the company since January 9, 2014.
Over that same period, MarketWatch’s Ciara Linnane points out, company shares are down about 20% while the S&P 500 is up 12%.
Byrne Discusses Medici on Crypto Convos
In a conversation published Wednesday with M.K. Lords that ran one and a half hours, Byrne talked about the blockchain-based stock market he is trying to build, known as Medici.
Redditor /u/GoldSash pointed out Thursday evening that Byrne appears to be going back on previous plans to build Medici on top of the Counterparty platform.
“We have had sort of a loose alliance with Counterparty,” Byrne says right around the 30-minute mark. “We're open to other people, in fact we are talking to other people.”
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