Overstock's SEC filing suggests issue of bitcoin-based securities

Overstock.com submitted the S-3 form on 24^th April to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that outlines its intention to issue new stocks or securities. The offerings could amount to as much as $500m, it said.

The SEC filing also outlines how the company plans to issue digital securities via an alternative trading system. Under a section entitled 'Risks Applicable to Digital Securities Offerings', the company states:

"We may decide to offer securities as digital securities, meaning the securities will be uncertificated securities, the ownership and transfer of which are recorded on a cryptographically-secured distributed ledger system using technology similar to (or the same as) the distributed ledger technology used for trading digital currencies."

Moreover, it also suggests how the digital securities would differ from traditional securities, underscoring that settlement periods would be much shorter.

Judd Bagley, Overstock director of communications, said the filing is in sync with the company's broader vision to use bitcoin's underlying technology to set up a new kind of stock exchange.

"There are many parts involved in achieving this, and one of them is the Alternative Trading System we'll be using to match buyers and sellers. In other words, an ATS is part of the Medici project," he said.