According to a press release on 24 January 2019, major online retailer Overstock.com’s majority owned subsidiary tZERO announced that secondary trading of tZERO security tokens is now available.

Investors will now be able to trade the token with other investors if they own or create a digital securities brokerage account at Dinosaur Financial Group, a broker-dealer registered with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). Another firm named PRO Securities, which is a subsidiary of tZERO, partnered with Dinosaur for the similar purpose of preparing an alternative platform for the secondary trading of tZERO security tokens.

tZERO is an Overstock.com subsidiary focused on the commercialization of fintech, or more specifically blockchain technology. The group pioneered in bringing higher efficiency and transparency to capital markets through the utilisation of blockchain.

Back in April 2018, Overstock’s CEO Patrick Byrne wanted to visualise what tZERO can or shall offer to its customers in the future. Thus, tZERO introduced a securities trading platform that acted as a prototype for that very purpose.

The company introduced an initial coin offering (ICO) in December 2017 which changed into the current completed security token offering (STO) in August 2018. The project attracted a lot of interest from investors of the crypto world, raising over $134 million from approximately one thousand investors from over the globe.

Overstock’s share price did see a setback in March 2018 when tZERO’s ICO was categorized as securities by the U.S. SEC. The firm later filed for the ICO to be changed from being categorized as a traditional security to being treated under Regulations D and S.

The launching of a secondary trading platform is seen to be a stepping stone for the adoption of cryptocurrencies in general. Saum Noursalehi, CEO of tZERO, stated that secondary trading of security tokens was never popular due to the lack of regulated platforms for the purpose. He elaborated the beginning of the secondary trading of their own security tokens to be the “crossing of Rubicon” for the digital asset world. He further added that the move will “create liquidity, democratize access, bring transparency and efficiency to global markets and accelerate the adoption of security tokens.”