Share this article
Patrick Byrne, Cryptocurrency Champion, Resigns as Overstock CEO
Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne has resigned from the company after admitting to an affair with Russian agent Maria Butina.
By Nikhilesh De
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 11:22 a.m. Published Aug 22, 2019, 4:21 p.m.
Patrick Byrne, a rare champion of cryptocurrencies among the heads of public U.S. companies, has stepped down from his roles at Overstock.com.
Byrne
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
wrote in a letter to shareholders Thursday that he was stepping down from the company both as CEO and as a member of its board of directors due to insurability and other reasons after admitting to a three-year relationship with Maria Butina, a Russian agent currently serving 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of acting as a foreign agent.
He will be replaced on an interim basis by Jonathan Johnson, the current president of Overstock's blockchain initiative Medici Ventures, a press release said Thursday.
"In his twenty years as Overstock’s leader, Patrick’s vision for Overstock as an innovation leader has come to fruition," Johnson said in a statement. "It will be my mission as I take the helm to continue and build on Overstock’s achievements and success."
Johnson added that "I am confident Overstock’s future – both in retail and blockchain – is bright."
Byrne said Johnson is "prepared ... to successfully oversee both our retail and blockchain businesses" in the press release.
While acting as interim CEO, Johnson will continue to serve on the board of directors for both Medici Ventures and the company's security token trading platform tZERO, as well as act as president of Medici.
Patrick Byrne image via CoinDesk archives
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Strategy shares register first six-month losing streak since adoption of bitcoin strategy in 2020
Crypto analyst Chris Millas has highlighted an unusually persistent slump in Strategy shares, breaking with past drawdown patterns even as the firm continued accumulating bitcoin.
What to know:
- Strategy shares fell in each of the final six months of 2025, marking the first time since the firm adopted bitcoin in August 2020 as a treasury reserve asset.
- The decline stands out for its persistence, as past selloffs were often followed by sharp rebounds.
- The stock sharply underperformed both bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 despite the firm's continued BTC purchases.
Top Stories
