What happened
Shares of Overstock.com (BYON -1.78%) surged 22.8% on Wednesday after the e-commerce company announced that a financial exchange titan had made a strategic investment in its fledgling digital-asset trading platform.
So what
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE -0.45%), parent of the New York Stock Exchange, is taking an equity stake in tZERO, a digital security marketplace for which Overstock.com is the majority owner.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) said it will become "a significant minority shareholder" in tZERO.
Image source: Getty Images.
As part of the deal, David Goone, ICE's chief strategy officer, will serve as tZERO's new CEO and join its board of directors. Goone is an experienced executive credited with developing and overseeing several of ICE's businesses.
CEO Jeff Sprecher said in a press release: "David Goone was present at many of ICE's milestone moments and deals over two decades, a key player on our management team as we built our world-class trading, clearing, and data infrastructure and product line, and has been a steward of our problem-solving culture. David's leadership and his mastery of trading, data, and clearing technology will be a big asset as tZERO begins its next chapter leading the growth and adoption of next-generation market infrastructure."
Now what
tZERO operates one of the few alternative trading systems regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission that focuses primarily on cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other digital assets. It's a booming market, and ICE's investment is a powerful vote of confidence for the platform's prospects.
Investors in turn bid up Overstock.com's stock to reflect its now more-valuable ownership position in tZERO.
