World-renowned economist Hernando de Soto and blockchain technology
leader Patrick Byrne (founder Overstock.com,
Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) and blockchain subsidiary Medici Ventures)
have formed a joint venture to develop a global property registry
system to surface the property rights of billions of people
in the developing world. The new company – De Soto, Inc. – brings
together de Soto’s decades worth of reforms (especially regarding
property rights) at the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD)
and Medici Ventures’ blockchain expertise to build solutions to
empower individuals through recognized property ownership.
De Soto, Inc. is developing a blockchain-based system using
mobile applications and social media integration that will bring to
light the thousands of “disconnected ledgers” (i.e., informal
ownership records) that exist at local levels in communities around
the world. In doing so, it will create a global repository on which
ownership and transfer can be based. The system aims to promote the
interests of people who are currently operating extra-legally, as
well as multinational corporations who are trying to cooperate with
local owners. The company expects to launch its first pilot program
in early 2018.
“I envision a world in which people with rights to their
property and business assets pull themselves—and their communities
—out of poverty,” said de Soto. “About 80 percent of the world’s
population is unable to enter into the modern global economy due to
lack of visible and standardized property records. Billions of
people have resources that cannot easily be transformed into
productive capital. Blockchain is a powerful tool to solve these
structural issues, which are some of the principal causes of
poverty and conflict.”
Considering merely real estate, the poor in developing countries
own a staggering $14 trillion in assets that is “dead capital.” In
Peru alone, untitled real estate assets amount to $74 billion in
value that Peruvians cannot use to establish creditworthiness or
leverage as collateral for loans. Lacking formal ownership and the
legal protection it affords, citizens of the developing world may
turn for protection to terrorist organizations, who gain power by
promising enforcement of de facto local property ownership.
Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com and founder of its subsidiary Medici
Ventures, has been a longtime advocate for bitcoin and its
underlying technology, blockchain. “Working with Hernando de Soto
is the honor of my lifetime,” said Byrne. “Hernando’s work has
demonstrated that secure ownership of property is a catalyst that
sets into motion the engine of progress, creating enormous wealth
in the process. From my first public talks on blockchain I
emphasized that blockchain’s application to property could lift
billions out of poverty. Hernando and I intend to use blockchain
technology to empower and enfranchise the five billion people who
live outside formal economies within five years.”
“One of our main missions is to democratize capital – to help
the poorest members of society participate in global markets,” said
Jonathan Johnson, president of Medici Ventures. “Hernando’s work
proves that implementing policies to surface and protect property
rights undermines terrorist organizations and promotes the
prosperity of those who were previously forced to operate outside
the formal economic system. Blockchain can solve this problem. It’s
great to be partnering with Hernando to bring this vision to
reality.”
De Soto is founder and president of the Peru-based Institute for
Liberty and Democracy, considered by The Economist to be one of the
two most important think tanks in the world. In the last 30 years,
de Soto has been designing and implementing legal reforms to
empower the poor in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East,
and former Soviet nations through programs that grant access to
formal property rights. De Soto has been written of as “One
of the 12 Most Important Economists in the World ”. He won
the prestigious Milton Friedman Prize in 2005, was listed as one of
15 innovators "who will reinvent your future" according to Forbes
magazine’s 85th anniversary edition, and has been described by Bill
Clinton as “the world’s most important living economist”.
Byrne is the founder/CEO of Overstock.com. Wired Magazine has
called Byrne, “The Messiah of Bitcoin”. Byrne has been named the
National Entrepreneur of the Year (Ernst & Young, 2011).
Overstock has been voted #9 in Employees Choice “Best Places to
Work” (Glassdoor, 2011) and named one of the “100 Most Trustworthy
Companies in America” (Forbes, 2014).
About Medici Ventures:Launched in 2014, Medici
Ventures is a wholly owned subsidiary of Overstock.com, Inc.,
created to leverage blockchain technology to solve real-world
problems with transparent, efficient and secure solutions. Medici
Ventures has a growing portfolio of groundbreaking
blockchain-focused investments, including t0.com, Peernova, Bitt,
SettleMint, Factom, and IdentityMind, Spera and Symbiont. The
company’s majority-owned financial technology company, t0.com,
executed the world’s first blockchain-based stock offering in
December 2016.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such
forward-looking statements include all statements other than
statements of historical fact. Additional information regarding
factors that could materially affect results and the accuracy of
the forward-looking statements contained herein may be found in the
Company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2017, which
was filed with the SEC on November 8, 2017, and any subsequent
filings with the SEC.
About Overstock.comOverstock.com, Inc. Common
Shares (NASDAQ:OSTK) / Series A Preferred (Medici Ventures’ tZERO
platform: OSTKP) / Series B Preferred (OTCQX:OSTBP) is an online
retailer based in Salt Lake City, Utah that sells a broad range of
products at low prices, including furniture, décor, rugs, bedding,
and home improvement. In addition to home goods, Overstock.com
offers a variety of products including jewelry, electronics,
apparel, and more, as well as a marketplace providing customers
access to hundreds of thousands of products from third-party
sellers. Additional stores include Pet Adoptions and Worldstock.com
dedicated to selling artisan-crafted products from around the
world. Forbes ranked Overstock in its list of the Top 100 Most
Trustworthy Companies in 2014. Overstock regularly posts
information about the company and other related matters under
Investor Relations on its website, http://www.overstock.com.
O, Overstock.com, O.com, Club O, Main Street Revolution, and
Worldstock are registered trademarks of Overstock.com, Inc. O.biz
and Space Shift are also trademarks of Overstock.com, Inc. Other
service marks, trademarks and trade names which may be referred to
herein are the property of their respective owners.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such
forward-looking statements include all statements other than
statements of historical fact. Additional information regarding
factors that could materially affect results and the accuracy of
the forward-looking statements contained herein may be found in the
Company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2017, which
was filed with the SEC on November 8, 2017, and any subsequent
filings with the SEC.
SOURCE: Overstock.com, Inc.
Media Contact:pr@mediciventures.com
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