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Source: Medici Ventures, Inc.

Medici Ventures Portfolio Company SettleMint Announces Token Sale for DataBroker DAO Beginning September 18, 2017

DataBroker is the first blockchain-based peer-to-peer marketplace for data generated by the Internet of Things

SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 31, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SettleMint, a Medici Ventures blockchain technology portfolio company based in Belgium, has launched its whitepaper for the upcoming token sale for DataBroker DAO. DataBroker DAO is a peer-to-peer marketplace created to provide Internet of Things (IoT) sensor-owners with a clear path to data monetization, and data consumers with a decentralized marketplace in order to buy IoT sensor data.

The core marketplace functionality is powered by an Ethereum smart contract, written in the Solidity programming language, which enables the listing of the data for sale by IoT sensor owners and the purchase of the data by data consumers with an ERC20-compliant utility token. The early token sale will start on September 18, 2017.

The data sold on the platform is recorded on a private and permissioned Blockchain or traditional cloud infrastructure. It is then subsequently anchored to a public blockchain to ensure the integrity of the data being bought and sold. With the token sale, SettleMint aims to further expand the platform beyond the current beta version of this Blockchain application to commercialization.

“I was impressed by the DataBroker platform when SettleMint first provided a private demo to Medici Ventures in January 2017,” said Medici Ventures President Jonathan Johnson. “With the analysis of product-market fit for DataBroker that SettleMint has done in Europe, the Middle East and Asia over the past six months, and the continued improvement of the platform, SettleMint has made great strides towards commercializing DataBroker. I’m excited to see more in the months ahead. The sale of the DATA utility token for use in DataBroker DAO is well thought-out and well-constructed. The DATA utility token is integral to the efficient economic functioning of the DataBroker DAO ecosystem.”

By 2016, the global market for IoT sensors surpassed $600 billion (USD) per year, and is expected to grow to $1.2 trillion (USD) per year by 2019. This includes the purchase, installation, and maintenance of sensors, along with the software packages to interpret and enrich the data. There were also at least 9 billion sensors deployed globally by the end of 2016, and this number is estimated to grow to 33 billion by 2019.

“The intersection of IoT and blockchain is enormously promising,” said Patrick M. Byrne, CEO and founder of Overstock.com, Medici Ventures’ parent company. “For sensor-owning organizations, the ability to use an immutable ledger to store data, ensure its integrity, and provide a clear path to data monetization, is a stellar example of the promise of blockchain. The magnitude and potential value of a marketplace for data-hungry third parties for IoT data is staggering.

“We made an extremely early investment in SettleMint because Matthew and Roderik have a laser focus on bringing game-changing applications of blockchain technology like this to market, and because we were so impressed with them personally,” Byrne continued. “I believe that what online retailers like Overstock.com have done for making physical goods accessible online, DataBroker will do for sensor data.”

The DataBroker marketplace has already been presented to great acclaim at global tech events including Blockchain Expo in London, Dublin Tech Summit, IoT World Paris, Smart City Saudi Arabia, IoTX Dubai, MoneyConf Madrid, Money2020 Copenhagen, TechXLR8 London, Tech Open Air Berlin, Unbound London and the Smart Dubai Office’s Blockchain Challenge.

SettleMint is one of several blockchain-focused investments by Medici Ventures, which furthers its goal of advancing blockchain technology with strategic investments in six key areas; capital markets, money and banking, identity/KYC, land, voting, and database technology.

About SettleMint

SettleMint helps organizations take advantage of blockchain and adjacent technologies, whether they are looking to extend existing products to their customers, create efficiency gains, or completely reinvent an existing business model. SettleMint offers their customers ‘Mint’, a set of modular middleware solutions that take away many of the complexities of blockchain technology. To demonstrate the versatility of this middleware, SettleMint developed several working applications including document management, a know-your-customer solution, a proxy-voting product and a data marketplace.

About Medici Ventures:

Launched in 2014, Medici Ventures is a wholly owned subsidiary of Overstock.com, Inc., created to leverage blockchain technology to solve real-world problems with transparent, efficient and secure solutions. Medici Ventures has a growing portfolio of groundbreaking blockchain-focused investments, including t0.com, Peernova, Bitt, SettleMint, Factom, and IdentityMind, Spera and Symbiont. The company’s majority-owned financial technology company, t0.com, executed the world’s first blockchain-based stock offering in December 2016.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include all statements other than statements of historical fact.  Additional information regarding factors that could materially affect results and the accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained herein may be found in the Company's Form 10-K for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, which was filed with the SEC on August 3, 2017, and any subsequent filings with the SEC.