AUG 5 DIGEST: Overstock Unveils Blockchain Trading Platform; Symbiont Issues Securities via Bitcoin

Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne has unveiled his company's long awaited blockchain-based private and public equities trading platform tØ; Symbiont has issued the first Smart Securities on the Bitcoin blockchain, and more top stories for August 5.

Overstock Unveils Blockchain Trading Platform tØ

Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne has unveiled tØ at the headquarters of the majorUSstock market NASDAQ inNew Yorktoday. The announcement marked the formal debut of tØ, Overstock's long awaited blockchain-based private and public equities trading platform.

Explaining the larger goals of the new platform, Byrne said:

“We built a platform and we're launching tØ.com, where the trade is the settlement. That's the big disruptive idea, the entry is both the trade and the settlement, it doesn't have to be a separate process.”

Symbiont Issues Securities on the Bitcoin Blockchain

Meanwhile, Symbiont has issued the first Smart Securities on the Bitcoin blockchain. Symbiont’s live platform allows institutions and investors to issue, manage, trade, clear, settle and transfer a range of financial instruments more efficiently on decentralized and distributed peer-to-peer financial networks that are cryptographically secured.

Mark Smith, CEO and co-founder of Symbiont, said:

“We are proud to be on the leading edge of this blockchain and distributed ledger movement […] With interest in distributed ledger technology growing rapidly, financial institutions are exploring how to leverage it to improve the efficiency and security of trading and processing financial transactions. Smart Securities will ultimately change the way that financial instruments are issued, managed and traded.”

Huobi Takes Bitcoin TradingMobile; Targets Western Users

One ofChina’s top three exchanges Huobi has released its mobile app for both iOS and Android platforms. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Senior Operating Director & International Marketing Director, Liu Yuewen, and the co-founder and COO of Caimao, Gao Yaohua, explained why it is looking to take bitcoin (and litecoin) trading mobile with the upgrade of its mobile app that allows users unprecedented power to trade, deposit and withdraw funds at the touch of a finger.

LOTPolish Airlines Now Accepts Bitcoin

LOT Polish Airlines now accepts bitcoin payments, meaning the cryptographic currency can be used to pay for flights to more than 60 global destinations. Jiri Marek, executive director of sales and distribution for the company, said the decision demonstrates howLOTis open to every client need as well as innovations in the travel industry.

Marek:

“Many of our customers are shopping online, including flights. It is only a matter of time before virtual currency payments will become as popular as credit card use nowadays. We saw this potential.”

How 3 Central Banks & the Financial Elite Embraced Bitcoin for One Day

July 31 saw participants such as the World Bank and other financial elite from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan gather inArgentinaandBrazilto witness the potential of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, particularly for the Latin American region. Cointelegraph spoke with Bitcoin Latam Founder Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar and Gabriel Kurman, CFO of Investment Fund Koibanx; both speakers—and co-organizers—of the event with Pinheiro Neto.

Ledger Works on Secure Smartphone Wallet

Hardware wallet producer Ledger is working on the Ledger Trustless, a new solution for Bitcoin security that does not require the use of an external device. The Ledger Trustless operates in a trusted execution environment (TEE) in smartphones, which is a secure operating area that resides in the application processor of an electronic device. The key point of the TEE is it protects cryptographic keys from the rest of the phone’s operating system.

Ripple Labs Awarded as Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum

Ripple Labs has been awarded as one of the World Economic Forum’s 49 “Technology Pioneers” for its distributed ledger technology. The Technology Pioneer award recognizes companies around the globe for their demonstrated ability to innovate and develop solutions with the potential to transform the future of business and society.

Ripple Labs co-founder and CEO Chris Larsen said:

“We are thrilled to be selected among the world’s most innovative companies in technology and to participate in such a well-established community of technology leaders […] Our mission is to modernize payments infrastructure so money can move as easily, freely and transparently as information moves on the Internet today. We’re pleased to know that many of the world’s economic leaders share a desire to fulfill this vision.”

Venezuela: A Severe Case of Bolivaritis (Op-Ed)

For outsiders, it’s a big unknown; for insiders, the country is a subsidiary of economic hell. In an op-ed for Cointelegraph, Omar Bessa explains how naive it is to think thatVenezuelais a “normal” country with a bout of hyperinflation, when it faces much bigger problems than that. According to Bessa, the country is on the brink of a civil war... and Bitcoin is not going to help.