Overstock’s Medici Ventures Uses Ravencoin Blockchain for Equity Purchase in Chainstone Labs – Completes $3.6 Million Securities Token Transfer

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Leading blockchain accelerator and a subsidiary of Overstock.com – Medici Ventures, has pulled off a digital securities token transfer representing its equity ownership in Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based Chainstone Labs.

The digital security was issued by Chainstone Labs to Medici Ventures using the Ravencoin blockchain.

“It is natural that since we focus on securities tokens that we have a digital security for the equity in our own company. The ease of moving digital securities has the potential to change the way the global economy works. Medici Ventures has the operational expertise to help us pursue this market,” said Fenton, who is also on the board of both Medici Ventures and tZERO, another Medici Ventures portfolio company. “Ravencoin is an ideal protocol and chain to use for this security token. The aim of Ravencoin is to do one thing and do it well: help users issue tokens and digital assets securely. Tokens, particularly securities tokens, are a promising area for blockchain technology.”

“Chainstone Labs shares the same vision of Medici Ventures: blockchain is the future and using it to make transactions faster, more secure, and completely transparent will change the world,” said Jonathan Johnson, president of Medici Ventures. “Our mission is to use blockchain to democratize capital, eliminate the middleman, and re-humanize commerce. We believe our equity purchase in Chainstone Labs is a huge step forward in that mission as Chainstone will help change the landscape of the global economy.”

The transaction was broadcast in real-time to show the simplicity of transferring equity using tokens as digital securities. Ravencoin is an open-source, public blockchain built to help users create and manage tokens and digital assets such as securities.

A video of the transaction can be viewed here:

The Chainstone digital security token is one of the first equity tokens issued using a public blockchain and is believed to be the first major security token issued on the Ravencoin network. Ravencoin was announced on October 31, 2017 and launched as a network on January 3, 2018. Ravencoin has been able to support the issuance of tokens since November 5, 2018. Medici Ventures is an active supporter of Ravencoin, an open-source project dedicated to the creation and peer-to-peer transfer of assets.

Chainstone Labs is a startup focused on digital securities and decentralized asset management. The company, founded by CEO Bruce Fenton, owns Atlantic Financial, a full-service investment firm and the Satoshi Roundtable, a leading invitation-only gathering of industry members.

Medici Ventures purchased a 29 percent stake in Chainstone Labs for $3.6 million. This equity purchase was first disclosed in the Q3 2018 earnings reporting of Medici Ventures’ parent company Overstock.com, Inc. on November 9, 2018. The equity token is not offered to the public.