Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) CEO and tZERO Chairman, Dr. Patrick Byrne announced his company’s intent today for blockchain subsidiary tZERO to purchase a minority stake in StockCross Financial Services, Inc., a U.S., DTC Clearing Firm. The parties have executed Letters of Intent for tZERO to purchase a 24 percent stake in StockCross.
Of tZERO’s investment, Byrne said, “As we have told the world, we intend to leverage our expertise to develop a trading platform capable of trading security tokens, and we expect clearing capabilities to be central to this endeavor. Today, we take the first step toward integrating a clearing function into the tZERO ecosystem. Today is the culmination of a Herculean effort between our team and the Gebbia Family of companies to begin a rewiring of Wall Street. This will be recognized as a monumental step in the adoption of crypto capital markets. I applaud the Gebbia family for sharing our vision, and for collaborating so productively. Our teams are excited to be pushing forward together.”
Under the terms of the agreement, tZERO will take a 24 percent interest in StockCross, for $12 million. Upon closing, the shareholders of StockCross have agreed to reinvest $3 million into StockCross for forward strategic investments. Additionally, pursuant to the Siebert (SIEB) and StockCross agreement announced on May 8, 2017, the tZERO stake will entitle tZERO to a one-time distribution of approximately 1.2 million shares of SIEB according to the LOI terms.
Gloria E. Gebbia, Director, and the Gebbia family, majority owners of Siebert and StockCross proudly said, “As we ring the closing bell today at the NYSE to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Mickie Siebert’s pioneering achievements in becoming the First Woman of Wall Street, it will be a fitting tribute to launch the next chapter of innovation with Overstock, tZERO, Siebert and StockCross changing Wall Street. On behalf of Siebert, StockCross and the Gebbia family, we welcome Dr. Byrne and tZERO into our family and look forward to combining forces to change Wall Street again. We intend to become the first investor friendly, U.S. regulated, fully integrated crypto clearing and brokerage firm in the world, and we look forward to doing it with tZERO.”
Recently tZERO signed a letter of intent to acquire a 1 percent stake in Kennedy Cabot Acquisition, LLC, the majority shareholder of Siebert Financial Corp.
Upon completion of these transactions, which are expected to close during the first quarter of 2018, tZERO portfolio companies will own approximately 5 percent of SIEB.