Blockchain trading-platform vendor tZero has executed Letters of Intent to take a minority interest in DTC clearing firm StockCross Financial Services, according to company officials.

Under the terms of the agreement, tZero will take a 24 percent interest in StockCross, for $12 million. Upon closing, the shareholders of StockCross have agreed to reinvest $3 million into StockCross for forward strategic investments. Additionally, pursuant to the Siebert (SIEB) and the StockCross agreement announced on May 8, 2017, the tZero stake will entitle tZero to a one-time distribution of approximately 1.2 million shares of SIEB according to the LOI terms.

“As we have told the world, we intend to leverage our expertise to develop a trading platform capable of trading security tokens, and we expect clearing capabilities to be central to this endeavor,” said Patrick Byrne, chairman of tZero and CEO of parent company Overstock.com. “Today, we take the first step toward integrating a clearing function into the tZero ecosystem. Today is the culmination of a Herculean effort between our team and the Gebbia Family of companies to begin a rewiring of Wall Street. This will be recognized as a monumental step in the adoption of crypto capital markets. I applaud the Gebbia family for sharing our vision, and for collaborating so productively. Our teams are excited to be pushing forward together.”

Recently tZero signed a letter of intent to acquire a 1 percent stake in Kennedy Cabot Acquisition, LLC, the majority shareholder of Siebert Financial Corp. Upon completion of these transactions, which are expected to close during the first quarter of 2018, tZERO portfolio companies will own approximately 5 percent of SIEB.