Leaving digital tracks: Overstock.com paves the way in the realm of cryptocurrencies.

AuthorChristensen, Lisa
PositionLessons Learned

If there is one word that can encompass Overstock.com, it is "pioneering." Think the company is simply an online purveyor of retail goods? Think again.

Overstock is constantly adding to its repertoire, and the changes are often quirky or unexpected, such as a recent partnership with farmers to deliver fresh produce to customers or its private label credit card. Other initiatives include its long-standing World Market and newly launched pet adoptions. The continuous pursuit of change means the company is always on the learning curve, but that's just how Overstock.com does things.

"It's part of this organization's DNA," says Judd Bagley, director of communications for Overstock.com. "We figured out online retail, and we were one of the first retailers who figured out how to deliver to your home--that's one example, but at the time it seemed like a huge innovation.

"Now that we've got a handle of how to sell toasters and living room sets online, it's in our DNA to find other things to master. Some of them work, and some of them don't. We leave some of them behind. The idea is to throw a lot of things against the wall and see what sticks and learn lessons from those things and apply them to the core business."

The latest--and, arguably, the most ambitious--innovation Overstock.com has launched is its entrance into the realm of cryptocurrency.

Finding Solutions

In January 2014, Overstock.com became the first major online retailer to accept bitcoin as a form of payment. Now, less than two years later, it's trying to make digital tracks in uncharted territory again by building an alternative stock market based on the bitcoin platform.

"In the course of [accepting bitcoin payments] we started having other conversations about other ways this technology could be applied," says Bagley. People often ask for a metaphor or comparison to help them understand cryptocurrencies, he says, but "we haven't really been able to find a parallel out there in the business world, so we're having to find a whole new vocabulary."

The idea came from CEO Patrick Byrne, who has what Bagley calls a "healthy distrust" for Wall Street and a background in cryptography and math with a libertarian bent. "You sort of combine all these things together and you get somebody who recognizes the value of cryptocurrency as a solution to intractable business problems and wants to apply that to Wall Street," Bagley says.

After coming up with the idea in August 2014 and doing some...

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