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Overstock’s Patrick Byrne: I Was a One-Man Occupy Wall Street

Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:42 PM
P. H. Madore
Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:42 PM

patrick byrneEveryone would like to see Overstock succeed because they accept Bitcoin. This past year, they did around $3 million in Bitcoin sales. Some say this was less than the projected $8 million. But then, the price of Bitcoin hovered around $600 for awhile, and now it’s around $300, so potentially this estimation was made in anticipation of future prices.

The Cool Thing About Bitcoin

In a recent video, Byrne expresses a deep regard for cryptocurrencies largely because they are not centralized, and don’t require any one entity to function. He spoke at length about the financial world and claimed  at one point, “I was a one-man Occupy Wall Street.”

The cool thing about […] Bitcoin is it’s peer-to-peer. They don’t need central institutions; they don’t need central clearing institutions, central counter-party clearing, they don’t need a central bank. They can’t have a central bank.

Overstock began accepting Bitcoin for its wide range of goods this last January. They say they will hold 10% of their Bitcoin in reserve. Which would mean this year they are holding $300,000. Patrick Byrne is one of the few leaders of the regular business world to be so vocally supportive of Bitcoin. While the future of currencies superior to the dollar might seem like it would be important to everyone, it is not immediately apparent to everyone.

Patrick Byrne: Crypto is the Answer

People who understand money best understand that a currency that is impervious to the collapse of the dollar or any currency is a currency worth holding. Bitcoin fits this bill, of course. If the past is any less, then it’s conceivable that in the face of problems in regular finance, Bitcoin would either hold its value or increase its value.

The Federal Reserve is a tumor on the economic life of America. […] How do we get rid of the Federal Reserve? […] Crypto is the answer.

Since these views are sometimes interpreted as radical, it is interesting to see a high-powered businessman unafraid to express them so freely. There probably isn’t any corner of the business where it might hurt too much anyway. There are those who argue, however that such associations with Bitcoin do not necessarily help the image. There was recently an article published which claimed that the worst enemies of Bitcoin were its fiercest proponents.

Byrne sees a future where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies overtake the central banks in order to essentially replace them with a fairer, less error-prone system of exchange. While some argue that the problems facing the cryptocurrency movement are too great, it is interesting to hear the CEO of a major online retailer contradict this view in such a bold way and on such a regular basis. It seems that every time he gets a chance he takes the opportunity to stump for Bitcoin. While mass adoption or not is the not the only thing success of the currency rests on, it certainly can go a long way to ensuring that it will succeed if more and more people are counting on it doing so.

If Overstock increases its Bitcoin sales year over year and gains an increasing stake in the Bitcoin sales market, it can be expected to impact the value of the coin.

Images from Overstock and Shutterstock.