Bitcoin Daily: Overstock Postpones Sale Of Retail Biz; IBM, Global Banks Pair On Stablecoin Issuance

Overstock has decided to hold off on selling its retail business.

The company had been planning to sell its flagship eCommerce business by the end of February, using the funds from the sale towards its blockchain projects. But now CEO Patrick Byrne told shareholders on Monday that there is no set timeline for the sale.

“It’s like preparing a souffle, and a souffle is ready when it’s ready,” he said, according to CoinDesk. In fact, he added that he anticipates “a year of explosive growth” for the retail division.

In other news, some major banks want to follow JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s lead and issue their own digital coin like JPM Coin.

“We have received interest on the heels of JPM Coin,” Jesse Lund, IBM’s vice president of blockchain, said in a phone interview, according to Bloomberg. He revealed that two other major banks, which he declined to name, “reached out to us after that announcement.”

IBM Blockchain World Wire has announced that it will be using Stronghold USD, a U.S. dollar token that’s fully backed by funds on deposit with a qualified SEC custodian, as well as other digital currencies, to facilitate settlement. The World Wire network will support more than 50 countries, with more than 20 currencies and more than 30 banking endpoints.

“As a financial institution, we’re in a unique position to innovate when it comes to enabling instant settlement for payments,” Stronghold CEO and co-founder Tammy Camp said in a press release. “Integrating our technology with IBM Blockchain World Wire represents a paradigm shift for payment processors.”

Bithumb, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, is cutting its staff by up to 50 percent, which would reduce its number of employees to around 150.

“Voluntary retirement is part of our support program for former employees and is intended to provide assistance and training for job placement,” said the Bithumb official, according to CoinDesk. “Apart from that, [Bithumb’s] trading volume has decreased compared to the previous year, [so] we are trying to provide internal measures. We will continue to add necessary personnel for various new businesses.”

And banking startup 2gether has announced its European expansion, allowing users across the region to spend crypto anywhere, anytime, with one swipe of the 2gether prepaid Visa card.

The 2gether customer can pay in Euros or instantly convert 1 of 7 cryptocurrencies to pay with the Visa card; hold and manage euro and crypto balances; and buy and sell crypto with no mark-ups to exchange prices.

“2gether is developing the bank of the future, where consumers can take full ownership and control of the services they use and go beyond solely interacting with euros and dollars,” Ramón Ferraz, CEO of 2gether, said in a press release. “To date, there has been no consumer-owned, tangible application that connects crypto and the mainstream market. We’re proud to be one of the first companies in the crypto space launching a token sale with an already finished product.”