tZERO Tokenizes Atari Founder’s Biopic

tZERO, a blockchain-based subsidiary of Overstock, announced a partnership with film production and financing company Vision Tree to tokenize a movie.

“Atari: Fistful of Quarters” will allegedly be the first motion picture to undergo the process of crypto-securitization in an effort to raise as much as $40 million for a biopic of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell.

Bushnell founded Artari in 1972 after launching a clone of a game called Spacewar. The first coin-op and home video game consoles – primitive as they were – set the stage for the golden age of gaming.

“Our goal is to apply blockchain technology to capital markets and every industry that can benefit from the platform we have built. The Atari movie is the perfect project to lead the way for the tokenization of the movie business,” said tZERO CEO Saum Noursalehi, in a statement. His colleague Patrick M. Byrne, Director & Chief Executive Officer of tZERO’s parent company, Overstock.com said this partnership will “bring much needed transparency and accountability” to Hollywood.

The tokens, dubbed Bushnells, will be developed by tZERO and sold by Vision Tree. A share of the film’s profits will also go to token holders, according to the press release.

Bushnells also enable owner participation in the film’s production and distribution by voting on the trailer and casting decisions.

tZERO was recently valued at $1 billion dollars by GSR Capital following an equity investment of $5 million.

The company’s alternative trading system (ATS) for security tokens launched in January, and reportedly still had light user engagement one month later. Perhaps this Atari flick might perk things up at the exchange.

tZero photo via CoinDesk archives