E-commerce giant Overstock.com’s cryptocurrency subsidiary tZERO has filed a patent for a “crypto integration platform” for trading digital assets. The patent was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Jan. 1.

The patent filing describes a system that would be able to receive orders to trade “digital transactional items” — such as securities, tokens, digital shares, cash equivalents and digital assets — from broker-dealers and then translate the orders into crypto orders on a digital exchange. The platform reportedly aggregates various market data from cryptocurrency exchanges and “locate[s] the best price in the crypto market for the digital asset or liability involved in the transaction.”

Before matching orders, the system purportedly secures the digital transaction items to be traded and cryptographically signs the transactions, as the filing describes. The system subsequently verifies the availability of the funds and digital assets, and clears and settles the transaction.

The platform reportedly serves as a bridge between legacy trading systems and crypto exchanges, the filing stating:

“The Crypto Integration Platform provides, among other things, an interface between legacy trading systems and crypto exchanges that trade digital transactional items. In doing so, the Crypto Integration Platform takes a protocol for trading and communication between broker-dealers, Alternative Trading Systems ("ATS"), and exchanges, and transforms the message so that the trade can be consummated using cryptographic techniques.”

The platform reportedly uses blockchain technology to verify ownership and availability of the digital transactional items, the patent filing also notes. The filing further explains that the platform can be used to conduct initial public offerings and other offerings of securities that are registered U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), “and by the general public to trade those securities in secondary market transactions.”

As Cointelegraph reported in December, tZERO was contracted by private equity firm GSR Capital to develop a smart contract token for the sale of cobalt, expected to launch in 2019.

Recently, Overstock announced it will pay part of its business taxes in the state of Ohio using Bitcoin (BTC) via the cryptocurrency taxpayer platform, OhioCrypto.com. The company’s CEO and founder Patrick Byrne said the move is "the best way to ensure the U.S. does not lose our place at the forefront of the ever-advancing global economy."