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Doing my periodic check in. I put in a buy order on Etrade at the current low price of 0.0004 - no action. I notice that there is still a $6.95 commission, so I do need to worry about a bunch of tiny transactions. Over at AladdinTalk Bob Lembo is still at it. Same bleak story of environmental destruction, but no company news.
I decided to check in over at Dinosaur. The price for tzero tokens is below a dollar now. Somebody bought one share of Overstock digital preferred for $11 today. There actually is a fair amount of activity in the tzero tokens, adding up to a few thousand dollars per day.
Yes, 12% is what I'm getting. I don't know what my brokerage is receiving, but I assume it is substantial.
I am currently receiving 12%, which is a little bit lower than late November's rate, and much lower than the highs from last summer.
Neverending, you seem to have accidentally used your EDIG persona on the PTSC board. I guess it had to happen eventually.
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"EDIG & PTSC should MERGE! Combine their pattens! IMO IMO IMO"
The document says they got onto OTCQB in 2014. Are you saying they weren't actually on it?
I think we need a lot more news like this. Here they are tokenizing something that would not normally have liquidity, so there is value added, unlike the case of the digital preferred shares.
I do have a question about the technology. Here is an excerpt:
-- "Alliance Investments intends to tokenize at least $25 million of the value of River Plaza. The River Plaza STO will be digitized using tZERO’s tokenization technology and Megalodon’s advisory services and issued on the Tezos Blockchain. River Plaza’s security tokens will provide investors with liquidity through tZERO’s secondary trading technology, which powers the alternative trading system operated by PRO Securities, LLC, a subsidiary of tZERO. The STO is expected to launch in Q1 of 2020."
Have they mentioned the Tezos Blockchain before? I wonder why they are using that rather than Ravencoin, which I thought served the same sort of function and is part of the Overstock blockchain universe.
I'm starting to feel less optimistic about all of this. I will comment on each item.
"Does it sound like a good idea? Yes. Will it still serve the purpose I intended? Yes, it will still force tens of thousands of people to get wallets for digital securities. It will get people trading digital securities."
-- The TZero app is a crypto wallet, and the digital preferred shares do not trade on it. They trade on Dinosaur, which is a super-shitty brokerage web site. Does Byrne really not know this? Anyway, yeah, let's "force" everyone to set up an account with a crappy broker.
"It will also generate for T0 trading commissions. I suspect that currently there are $200,000/day being generated with the trading of OSTK on NASDAQ. If That could all be shifted to T0, and priced at 50%, it would still generate $100,000 per day for T0. So that would be awesome."
-- Apparently he hasn't heard the news that many brokerages are cutting commissions to $0. Meanwhile, the commission on Dinosaur appears to be 1%, which for nearly all purchases people make is substantially more than what brokerages were charging before.
"Ultimately the plan was to create some way for people to arbitrage between the market on NASDAQ and the market on T0, given that what was trading on each was a nearly identical package of rights. Then that arbitrage would create and expand the wormhole between the two universes."
-- The bid/ask spread for OSTK on the Nasdaq at this moment is 2 cents. The spread for OSTKO on Dinosaur is $14. The only way anyone gets a good deal on the Dinosaur side is to have the person on the other end of the transaction get a bad deal. How is this good for Dinosaur? Regardless, there is no arbitrage opportunity since there is no way to convert from one platform to the other. (This is probably a more complicated question than I'm making out to be, but let me ask, are any of us who are already signed up with Dinosaur doing this arbitrage business now?)
My understanding is that if you have lent your shares out you do not get to vote. Not sure that makes any difference in the way things will play out, but it's something to think about.
Overstock.com pushes forward with digital dividend
Oct. 28, 2019 7:30 AM ET|About: Overstock.com, Inc. (OSTK)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor
Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) says its will seek a shareholder vote on its digital dividend.
The company plans to announce the record and meeting dates for the shareholder vote in the next few weeks. Based on the current timeline, Overstock anticipates that the record date will be in late November and that the meeting date will be late January 2020.
"This is an important step for the first dividend of its kind to give our shareholders access to the next generation of capital markets powered by tZERO," says Overstock CEO Jonathan Johnson.
Shares of OSTK are up 4.69% premarket to $11.82.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3510000-overstock-com-pushes-forward-digital-dividend
It's weird that I don't remember the $2 days, since I was a shareholder back then. Remind me then, why did the share price fall? I have a fuzzy recollection of being disappointed that Intel paid only $5 million, figuring that that company should be paying at the highest level. Given that the patents are expired, they would only being getting paid (in the best case scenario) for past infringement. So how many millions could that possibly add up to? Does anyone know how much they collected grand total from the companies that did buy the licenses?
People have been saying that if PTSC wins the case the share price will go into the dollars. What is the basis of this estimate? I am just recalling that back in the old days when they were actually receiving licensing money the share price wasn't that high. Is there a scenario where companies that paid up in the past would have to pay more, or is this all just to collect from the companies who never paid?
I wonder if the Byrne's sale of his shares has something to do with the low interest rate to borrow. Maybe there are now a lot more shares available to borrow and that moved the supply/demand curve. I'm debating with myself if this makes any sense.
I think that the "GTC @ $200" idea is an urban legend. It implies that your brokerage might lend your shares out to a *legit* short seller without telling you or compensating you. This would be illegal, so if they are willing to break the law, why would your bogus sell order matter?
As for the move to $0 commissions, yes, they say that commissions are a small part of their income. So they are doing it to be competitive. It would indeed be interesting to know how they make the bulk of their money. Lending out stock is one place. Some others I can think of: fees on managed accounts, interest on margin accounts, the various funds they run (e.g. money markets, mutual funds, ...). The thing about all of those is that many customers don't participate in any of those things, so I wonder what else there is.
If the court wants to address this issue then this might actually be a very good case because the plaintiffs (if that is the right word here) are represented by a top notch law firm. Addressing the issue does not imply that they are inclined to side with the plaintiffs. They might just want to clarify the situation.
No, I did not see that article. It's a bit over my head, actually. I assume that any changes in the current law would not be applicable to the PTSC situation.
Keep in mind that this is the issue presented:
"Whether the United States Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit’s development and application of
the doctrine of “prosecution history disclaimer” is
consistent with fundamental principles of separation
of powers, the Patent Act, and long-established
Supreme Court precedent."
The supreme court is not being asked to rule whether anyone infringed on PTSC's patents. The court will take up the issue if it looks like this doctrine of "prosecution history disclaimer" needs to be modified, reinforced, clarified, or whatever. If PTSC wins it only means that there would have to be a retrial at a lower court level.
I put "prosecution history disclaimer" into a search engine. Here is a fairly understandable definition:
"Whenever an applicant makes a clear and unambiguous argument that a claim does not cover a certain feature, this argument becomes binding on the applicant and the applicant cannot later argue in court that the claim would cover such a feature. Coverage of that feature is considered "disclaimed" by the applicant and cannot be recovered. The scope of the resulting patent is narrower than it might be if the applicant had said nothing.
Prosecution disclaimer ensures that an applicant cannot obtain a patent by arguing that its claimed invention is narrow, and then turn around and enforce that patent against competitors with an argument that it is broader."
http://dictionary.sensagent.com/prosecution%20disclaimer/en-en/
Here is a link that discusses our case:
https://patentlyo.com/patent/2019/09/prosecution-history-disclaimer.html
Suddenly lots of posts to read at once here. I will combine my thoughts and questions on multiple topics.
1. Ken Starr and the legit law firm. It definitely surprised me to see this famous name on the side of PTSC. I had assumed they were represented by someone whose face appears on a bus stop bench. The question is does this represent a belief on their part that PTSC can prevail (like is there any contingency built into the fee structure), or are they just collecting a paycheck.
2. The composition of the supreme court. I'm not convinced that this is an issue that would divide along liberal/conservative lines. The only argument I've heard seems to be that tech is liberal, so the liberal judges are in their back pocket. Even if you are that cynical, let's at least consider that this is about hardware, not social media. And even there you have Elizabeth Warren out there saying big tech should be broken up. Regardless, the question put to them is some broad principle, not whether PTSC should get millions of dollars. Who else would be affected by a positive ruling?
3. Back in better times, PTSC was collecting $$ for use of their patents. I vaguely recall Intel paying $5 million. Are companies that already paid completely off the hook regardless of any ruling? I.e., is this just to try to collect from the ones who didn't pay up before?
Not sure what the question is here exactly, but that link was a very good description of supreme court procedures.
I do not know how long it might take. I think the process is that they can decide to take up the case or not, at their discretion. It seems like when I hear of them taking up a case, it takes many months before the case is heard. I don't have any idea how long it takes for them to decide to go forward or not.
BTW, you say you are from Spain. Was the name Ken Starr already familiar to you?
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kenneth-W-Starr
"Ken Starr, in full Kenneth Winston Starr, (born July 21, 1946, Vernon, Texas, U.S.), American lawyer best known as the independent counsel (1994–99) who headed the investigation that led to the impeachment of U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton."
Is anyone here following the trading on Dinosaur. (BTW if no one is that is not a good sign for OSTK.) I bought a few more tZERO tokens for about $1.60 just for laughs a few days ago. Anyway, my comment is more about the digital preferred, OSTKO. Since Sep 23 the share price has been all over the place. Someone actually paid $97.95 for a share. (I think that the fair value of a share should be a little above the common stock.) One day had a high of $30 and a low of $10. The current bid is $29. In a rational world someone would happily sell at that price and invest the proceeds in the common stock or the series B preferred. Basically, this is what it is like when there are no market makers.
Interesting to skim through that. Did you catch this on the last page:
Respectfully submitted,
KENNETH W. STARR
THE LANIER LAW FIRM
Schwab announces that many types of trade will be commission-free. Other brokerages might have to follow suit.
https://ih.advfn.com/stock-market/NYSE/charles-schwab-SCHW/stock-news/80840796/charles-schwab-ending-commissions-for-online-trade
Not sure if this will apply to entities like ASPT. If it does then this could help out trading quite a bit.
I don't 100% agree that it's nothing to do with its products or services. Things would be different if there was more positive news coming out of tZERO. A while ago they said there would be a lot of tokens coming on line, but nothing has developed there. It is also worth recalling that the jump up to $29+ had nothing to do with products or services either. I wonder if getting new tokens listed is contingent on getting more customers on the platform. If so the dividend cancellation was even more of a setback.
"The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: (i) that the Defendants had engineered the tZERO offering as revenge upon short sellers and tried to create a short squeeze by offering a digital token dividend that would not be registered and could not be resold for at least 6 months; and (ii) that there were substantial risks to this plan; (iii) that Overstock's incredibly high Directors & Officers insurance rates and other problems were causing the Company to miss earnings projections for the year."
Wasn't Number (i) fairly obvious, at least to us all here?
BTW, the deadline is to be a "lead plaintiff," which it sounds like does you individually no particular good.
Not sure how the below might affect tZERO's business model. It would be good to know where the other 96 to 97% of their revenue comes from.
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Charles Schwab Shares Fall; Competitors Show Wider Slide
Shares of Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) declined Tuesday and its competitors' shares took even more of a hit after Schwab said it was no longer going to charge commissions on options, stocks and exchange-traded funds on exchanges in the U.S. and Canada.
Schwab shares fell 8.4%. Shares of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD) fell 21% and shares of E*Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC) fell 17%.
Schwab Chief Financial Officer Peter Crawford said this change in commissions comes out to between about 3% to 4% of the company's net revenue, or between about $90 million to $100 million.
Schwab's announcement applies to options, ETFs and stocks traded on the web or via mobile. The company said that options traded by clients will still cost 65 cents for each contract.
https://ih.advfn.com/stock-market/NYSE/charles-schwab-SCHW/stock-news/80839100/charles-schwab-shares-fall-competitors-show-wider
My shares on loan at Schwab were returned to my account late in the trading day yesterday. Last time this happened it was due to concerns about the upcoming dividend, and as soon as that was shot down they loaned the shares out again. This morning I called up Schwab to see what the story was this time. I was told that it was due only to lack of demand. So if this is truly the case maybe the shorts think they have taken OSTK down as far as they can for now.
For now it looks like they are just gathering email addresses of potential clients. The only way this is going anywhere is if the SEC were to find wrongdoing of some sort, and this would be a problem with or without these clowns getting involved.
Below is the text. It really sounds like they have nothing. Maybe I'll see them advertising during Murder She Wrote on afternoon TV. I am tempted to email them to see what they send back, but I would create a disposable email address for just that purpose.
CURRENT SHAREHOLDERS: Zamansky LLC Investigates Overstock.com Inc. (OSTK) for Potential Breaches of Fiduciary Duties
Print
Alert
Overstock com (NASDAQ:OSTK)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Thursday 26 September 2019
Click Here for more Overstock com Charts.
Zamansky LLC announces that it is investigating Overstock.com Inc. (OSTK) (“Overstock” or the “Company”) for potential breaches of fiduciary duties by Overstock’s senior officers and board of directors. If you are a shareholder of Overstock who still holds your shares, please contact our firm for information.
As Seeking Alpha wrote on September 10, 2019, investors have been speculating that the resignation of Overstock’s CEO Patrick Byrne in August 2019 may “indicate that a serious SEC enforcement action could be forthcoming.” The precise details of the SEC investigation have not been revealed, but shareholders can independently investigate the matter to protect their rights. After Overstock repeatedly hyped its blockchain business for years, investors have been harmed as that business is reportedly “hemorrhaging money.” Investors have cause for concern because in recent days, Overstock’s current interim CEO Jonathan Johnson announced that the Company has “spent a king’s ransom” to process the SEC’s requests for information, and former CEO Patrick Byrne announced that he completely “sold all of his 10-plus percent stake in Overstock.”
According to Jake Zamansky, investment fraud attorney, Overstock’s officers and directors owe the Company and its shareholders fiduciary duties. “The recent announcements regarding SEC investigations and other related issues raise potential concern for investors,” Zamansky says. “Our law firm is investigating whether the officers and directors have breached their duties to Overstock and its shareholders.”
What Overstock Shareholders Can Do
If you are a current shareholder of Overstock who still holds your stock, please contact us to review or discuss your legal rights. You may, without obligation or cost to you, email jake@zamansky.com or call the law firm at (212) 742-1414.
PB is gone, but we still have words like "keiretsu." What do people think, is this cool or WTF? I tend towards the latter.
"Evernym fills out Medici Ventures’ identity pillar within our keiretsu ... "
"Medici Ventures oversees a global keiretsu of companies building the foundation of a technology stack for civilization ... "
"Medici Ventures has interests in a global keiretsu of groundbreaking blockchain-focused companies ... "
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keiretsu
n. A network of businesses that own stakes in one another as a means of mutual security, especially in Japan, and usually including large manufacturers and their suppliers of raw materials and components.
Subscribing only puts you on the email list. Basically I'd just like to be able to comment on PB's posts. If anyone can figure out how to do that please share.
I get the same "agree" button and am able to read everything. The login button I'm talking about is at the end of the menu bar near the top of the page. I assume you need to login in order to comment.
The Deep Capture website has a login button. I don't see a way to get an account. Does anyone here know of a way?
"Precisely one director contacted me to say he supported my decision to come forward to the world about what I had been involved in, and that I should stay. But in conversation with the Chair, it was made clear to me that “the Board” wanted me dissociated from the firm."
So the rest of the company does not see it as their mission to screw the shorts, take down the deep state, etc. Maybe they think their business plan works without any of that. This is probably a good thing, I suppose, but less entertaining.
With regard to which cryptocurrencies PB may have bought into, I would not take it for granted that they would be Ravencoin and FLO. I'm not sure about FLO, but Ravencoin was heavily invested in by Overstock, so if his goal was to separate his fortunes from Overstock, that one should be avoided. The other thing is that his interest seemed to be to guard against some sort of economic collapse, buying precious metals for example. I don't know of any reason why these two cryptos would be especially good in that department, but neither do I know what would be better choices.
The bad news is worse results for Q3 than previously predicted, and also the CFO resigned. One factor they mention is the increase in insurance costs, which Byrne mentioned as one of the reasons he needed to separate from the company. For me the Q3 thing is not so much of a concern, but I'd really like to know what is up with the CFO.
----
Weak guidance weighs on Overstock along with CFO exit
Sep. 23, 2019 9:37 AM ET|About: Overstock.com, Inc. (OSTK)|By: Clark Schultz, SA News Editor
Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) updated guidance along with its earlier announcement on the resignation of its CFO.
The company says Q3 EBITDA is "break-even" to fall below the prior outlook for "significant positive" EBITDA for the period. Management points to higher tariff costs, increased D&O insurance costs and a lower than anticipated conversion rate on high dollar purchases across the industry.
Overstock still expects "modest" positive EBITDA for Q4.
Overstock is down 10.29% in early trading.
I'm guessing that if you download the wallet following the link on the web page you can buy it through that, but I haven't done it myself.
In the comments section on one of the DeepCapture website essays someone speculated that the two cryptos would be RavenCoin and this one:
https://flo.cash https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/flo/
The reason for both is that they have some association with Overstock. Since he is cutting all associations with Overstock I wouldn't assume that he'd necessarily choose either of these. I would guess that Bitcoin would be where he'd put the bulk, and the other could be anything.
I think they said that they would announce the new plan in as little as three weeks. I imagine that the new distribution date will be quite a while after that, considering how far in advance they announced the previous date.
Patrick Byrne's investment strategy
From https://www.deepcapture.com/2019/09/a-message-to-my-former-colleagues-at-overstock/#comment-1082230
<<
For these reasons it may give you some comfort to know what I am doing with the capital generated by the sale of my stock: after paying tens of millions in taxes (after all, “We didn’t build that,” right?) by Friday the rest will be in investments that are counter-cyclical to the economy: Gold, silver, and two flavors of crypto. The gold and silver are stored outside of the United States, in Switzerland, and within two weeks, will be scattered in other locations that are even more outside of the reach of the Deep State, but are places that are safe for me. The crypto is stored in the place where all crypto is stored: in mathematical mist, behind long keys held only in the memory of someone who is quite good at storing such things in memory (with paper backups in the hands of a priest I met 35 years ago who never sits foot in the West).
>>
I guess if we take him seriously we should be thinking about our own portfolios. I wonder which cryptos he is buying? Would Ravencoin be one?