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Blockchain-Based Tenancy Platform via REIQ-Igloo Collaboration in Australia

Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) has collaborated with Igloo, an Australian technology firm, to set up a tenancy agreement program that will be founded on the blockchain technology. This is intended to happen by the end of 2019.

According to news outlet ZDNet, Josh Callaghan, the general manager of REIQ stipulated that the innovative platform will utilize smart contracts in the creation of secure and easy transactions for every tenancy agreement generated. He asserted that the collaboration will be instrumental in leveraging optimal benefits of technological innovations, such as blockchain, as it will make the sincerity irrefutable.

Callaghan also noted:

“All parties will have visibility over the contract at any time from the palm of their hand. By executing as a smart contract, we’re also able to build out the functionality to handle payments of bond and rent, plus facilitate other activities related to the property such as routine inspections and maintenance.”

Blockchain as a game-changer in real estate

The partnership formulated will take efficiency in the real estate sector a notch higher as blockchain technology will enable the renting of properties simpler and transparent. Moreover, different stakeholders, such as tenants, will be able to view the rental sector in Queensland simultaneously.

Callaghan stipulated:

“The instant a tenancy agreement is signed, we will know how much a property was rented for, how long the agreement is for, how long it was vacant and so on, which will give the REIQ unprecedented insights into rental market trends as it happens.”

Australia has been gearing towards revamping its real estate sector using blockchain technology. For instance, in 2018, Australia’s New South Wales Land Registry hired ChromaWay in the development of a decentralized or distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform that authenticated the conveyance of electronic property.

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tZERO Partners With Alliance Investments to Tokenize $25M Real Estate Project in UK

In a press releaseby Businesswire on Oct. 30, tZERO announced that it has collaborated with Alliance Investments for the sole aim of tokenizing River Plaza worth around $25 million.

As a major company in blockchain innovation for capital markets, tZERO partnered with the UK-headquartered real estate investment company to tokenize a 180-unit luxury residential development located in Manchester which makes it become the first UK real estate-backed security token offering (STO) which is expected to be launched in Q1 of 2020.

Saum Noursalehi, CEO of tZERO, commented on the development expressing his belief that it will revolutionize the real estate market and also lauded the decision of Alliance Investments. Noursalehi said:

“We believe that asset tokenization will revolutionize the real estate sector. We applaud Alliance Investments for spearheading one of the world’s first real estate-backed security token offerings. Tokenization of real estate will democratize access and greatly enhance liquidity for this asset class.”

Around $25 million of the value of River Plaza will be tokenized through the use of tZERO’s tokenization technology and Megalodon’s advisory services and will be issued on the Tezos Blockchain.

In this regards, the CIO of Alliance Investments, Rani Zahr said:

“We view tZERO as a leader in blockchain innovation and asset tokenization solutions and are excited to partner with them on our first STO. We hope to continue to collaborate with tZERO to see out our real estate tokenization plan.”

He stated that Alliance Investments would continue to be on the leading side of innovation. He added: “We strive to stay ahead of the innovation curve and believe that security token offerings are the future. They are more efficient, cost-effective, autonomous, and democratic in comparison to traditional financing.”

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Xinyuan Employs X-Bolts Blockchain for Real Estate Transformation

Are you ready for the disruption prompted by blockchain as part of the fourth industrial revolution or 4IR?

Blockchain is continuously shaking up the status quo of many sectors, and real estate is not an exemption. Xinyuan, a real estate property manager and developer primarily operating in China, seeks to win market recognition and accelerate innovation in this sector by using the X-Bolts blockchain.

Xinyuan pioneering in blockchain adoption

Xinyuan has been among the pioneering real estate companies to invest in blockchain in China. For instance, in 2015, it invested in Beijing Rchain to scrutinize blockchain’s underlying technology, whereby primary emphases were laid on the BAAS (Blockchain As A Service) platform.

Through X-Bolts blockchain, Xinyuan has developed suitable applications for the real estate sector, such as Conbow and Golden Bricks. For instance, Golden Bricks seeks to hasten real estate sales through blockchain as the process has been lengthy. This is advantageous because buyers are availed with a one-stop all-round service, and this propels their satisfaction rates.

By leveraging on blockchain technology, Conbow seeks to revamp the traditional community property services that have been characterized by limited-service scope, single income source, and high costs. Conbown will aid in the development of an intelligent community operation platform by deploying the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technologies.

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First-Ever Real Estate Blockchain Portal Set to Launch in the UK

OpenBricks, a new blockchain-powered property portal in the UK, is set to be launchedin January 2020 following months of testing and preparation with six agents.

OpenBricks is eyeing to be the world’s first blockchain-based portal as it won’t have any centralized authority, as well as many staff because it will thrive on agents’ own servers using a distributed ledger network.

It expects to attract many real estate agents who are faced with huge costs of utilizing the main portals. Each branch is to be charged £100.

The Chief Operating Officer at OpenBricks, Adam Piggott, noted: “The blockchain technology will prevent us from turning the screws and hiking up the fees; it will be the agents who decide that and not the board of OpenBricks. It’s your portal.”

He added: “Our decentralized portal will be a big ‘spider’s web’ network linking agents together and enabling them to control how they share their listings rather than handing it over to a portal – because with OpenBricks there won’t be a central entity.”

Piggott believes that the OpenBrix model is different because it is blockchain-powered for the first time outside the financial spectrum across the globe. Additionally, each estate agency will be required to pay the same amount. They will also be provided with one vote that they can utilize when being balloted on issues like marketing budgets.

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South Korean Shared Workspace Company Turns to a Blockchain-Powered Real Estate Platform

Sparkplus, a South Korean office sharing company, announced a partnership with tech startup Kasa Korea for a blockchain-enabled real estate funding platform.

Through the strategic collaboration, Sparkplus seeks to revolutionize Seoul’s sharing economy through a decentralized network that would enable people without much money to collectively and indirectly generate funds in the real estate sector.

This approach is touted to eliminate various challenges, such as low disposable incomes, that hinder the penetration of the real estate industry.

Real estate tokenization

Sparkplus also revealed that it intended to launch co-working centers at buildings listed on Kasa Korea’s blockchain platform.

Sparkplus CEO, Mok Jin-gun, acknowledged: “With our experience in operating coworking offices, we will work hard to increase the value of the assets that are on Kasa Korea’s platform through this partnership.”

He added: “We will work together to provide more business buildings, which is attractive to individual investors on the platform.”

Expressly, Kasa Korea’s blockchain platform has been crafted in such a way that real estate beneficiary securities are tokenized. This happens through the issuance of crypto asset-backed securities with their collateral as real estate.

On the other hand, Sparkplus recently secured 30 billion won ($25.3 million) of series B funding from investors, such as Koramco, Intervest, Aju IB Investment, STIC Ventures, Wooshin Venture Investment, and Aju Hotels and Resorts.

This figure brings the total funds raised by the firm to 60 billion won since November 2016. This has enabled Sparkplus to open 12 co-working locations spread across Seoul in affluent regions, such as Gwanghwamun and Gagnam.

By leveraging on blockchain technology, innovation and liquidity is being availed in the real estate sector via tokenization.

OpenBricks, a new blockchain-powered property portal in the UK, is eyeing to be the world’s first blockchain-based portal as it won’t have any centralized authority, as well as many staff because it will thrive on agents’ own servers using a distributed ledger network.

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$134 Million Deal Closed By Real Estate Company Using Blockchain in Switzerland

Switzerland has just recorded one of its first real estate tokenization and sale on the blockchain. The asset involved in this transaction is a building sitting on the prestigious Bahnhofstrasse in Zürich. This is seen to have happened in a time where the adoption of blockchain in real estates has started to heat up.

The Swiss real estate investment company BrickMarket happened to be the buyer who acquired the property. The company also issued a bond-backed crypto token, and these tokens are figuratively representation of “shares” anyone to claim rightful ownership of the building if acquired. According to the report, the crypto tokens will be for sale to people who want to cut themselves in on the earnings that would be generated from the building’s rental income and benefits from any rise in the value as well.

The company RFR, also the former owner of the property, will still retain a version of ownership after the completion of this sale. According to the terms of the agreement, RFR will receive 20% of BrickMarket’s total supply of tokens pertaining to the building. This will be in an effort to ensure that the company continues to maintain significant interest there and receive passive income from going forward.

BrickMarket revealed that this tech-based property purchase is just the beginning of much more bigger picture, which the company intends to work with as it builds a blockchain-powered real estate business that could be worth much more than $134 million.

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Are Blockchain and Tokenization the Holy Grail in Eradicating Wealth Inequality?

The vicious cycle of wealth inequality is continuously wreaking havoc across the globe as the gap between the rich and poor widens. Realistically, the vast accumulation of wealth in a few hands tends to corrupt political systems and manipulate markets worldwide. For instance, the top 1% in the US holds 42.5% of all national wealth, and similar trends are witnessed in other countries.

Blockchain and tokenization could prove to be ideal in fighting the wealth inequality challenge, as they can break the vicious cycle of wealth inequality by promoting ownership of high-performing asset classes. This will enable any person to invest and partially own lucrative assets, such as commercial real estate.

Additionally, a blockchain-based accounting system coupled with digital tokens could instigate accountability and transparency in banking channels. Through this approach, banks will be prompted to market to their clients what products to be sold based on their preferences and interests. In turn, clients will enjoy maximal commissions and returns.

Tokenizing assets

Tokenization allows for fractional asset ownership, which is ideal in tackling the wealth inequality menace. Notably, tokenizing real-world assets, such as art, real estate, and cars, will be instrumental in enabling the majority of the global populace to be part of this high-valued asset economy.

Realistically, ownership is fundamental in any thriving economy as people are presented with the chance to expand their wealth by buying and holding assets. This concept is guaranteed by tokenization.

In case of any debt, tokenization will come in handy in fractionalizing it into smaller token-tranches. Consequently, a market for these tokens can be created, enabling investors to trade them at a discount to par value in case they want to exit the investment plan.

Blockchain allows for smart contracts to be executed, whereby the agreement terms between the buyer and seller are directly written into lines of code. They can be programmed in such a way that they permit the automatic execution of ancillary provisions like a loan roll-over as this will disallow taxation at expiration.

Blockchain enables direct P2P investment

By leveraging on distributed ledger technology (DLT), direct p2p investment will be prompted between citizens and governmental investment agencies. This will guarantee transparency as all stakeholders will be in a position to know the amount of funds received, the number of bond-tokens issued, and the ultimate beneficiaries of the funds.

Mark Yusko, the CIO and CEO of investment advisory company Morgan Creek Capital Management, believes that blockchain technology is crucial in alleviating wealth inequality. He said, “The government and the elites want to have all the wealth, so they manufacture inflation and the wealth flows to the top. […] And that’s why we have the greatest wealth inequality in the history of mankind. Bitcoin helps solve that because now we can opt-out as an owner of assets from that fiat system.”

According to the World Bank, 1.7 billion people across the globe do not have accessto loans and do not have bank accounts. Through blockchain-powered cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, they will be provided with financial services, and this will be instrumental in tackling wealth inequality. Blockchain and tokenization are, therefore, instrumental in eradicating wealth inequality as it is a challenge that is continuously wreaking havoc globally.

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Japan Rural Dwellers to Experience the Use of Blockchain in Property Acquisitions

A new platform has shown through trial methods that the Japanese real estate fund was more efficient, transparent, and compliant with the use of digital securities and blockchain technology.

The details of the experiment were published in a Medium post on March 10. Securitize Inc., a company with aims to modernize capital markets by creation of digital securities, which are easier to own, simple to manage and faster to trade, in partnership with LIFULL Co Ltd (with funding from LIFULL Social Funding Co Ltd), recently announced the successful creation of a funding platform which will support the use of digital securities for investing in real estate. The platform’s aim is to help promote real estate crowdfunding to revitalize vacant homes in the countryside of Japan.

LIFULL Co Ltd is credited with launching the project in partnership with BUIDL, Ltd. and LIFULL Social Funding Co., Ltd. in December 2019, Securitize Inc. soon after acquiring BUIDL continued with the commitment of BUIDL as regards the development of the platform alongside LIFULL to implement the first phase of the project which was already considered to be satisfactory.

In the course of carrying out the project, the companies were able to successfully prove that crowdfunded real estate funds using digital securities and blockchain technology was more practical and showed operational cost reductions in comparison to the traditional structure.

Pleased with the outcome of the partnership, Carlos Domingo, CEO and Co-Founder of Securitize Inc. said, “Our collaborative success in creating a comprehensive platform solution for crowdfunded real estate funds is very exciting, and it is a great start for Securitize and LIFULL as we work to modernize the Japanese real estate market together.”

With the new partnership, blockchain will continue its adoption process in Japan and other sectors would tap into its unlimited benefits.

In recent times the real estate industry has seen an increase in the application of blockchain. One of in amongst these numerous cases happened earlier on as a blockchain company based in Switzerland had sealed a real estate deal worth $134 million.

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Binance China and Xinyuan Group to Expand Blockchain Utility in Global Real Estate

Binance China Blockchain Institute, the research arm of global exchange Binance has formed a strategic partnership with Xinyuan Group to further the application of blockchain technology in the global real estate industry—including New York. Xinyuan Group is an NYSE-listed Chinese real estate company dedicated to the development of blockchain technology.

According to the official release, Binance China Blockchain Institute and Xinyuan Group are set to collaborate on a variety of projects ranging from scientific research, technological development, talent cultivation to project incubation toward the objective of accelerating digital transformation of the real economy.

“We are thrilled to partner with Xinyuan Group, one of the most progressive real estate firms in fueling the development of blockchain technology, and bringing forward innovative products, services, and business models,” said Mai Lu, Asia-Pacific VP at Binance. “Xinyuan Group has a proven track record of digitalizing real estate in a fully compliant way in the US while Binance has been leading the development of blockchain technology. By working hand in hand, we are confident that we will present more use cases for daily life and further grow the blockchain industry.”

Leveraging Xinyuan Group’s proprietary platform—Xbolt (Blockchain Operation Ledger Technology) and Binance’s ecosystem, the partnership will see the two companies will conduct collaborative research in multiple areas including blockchain, big data, fintech, artificial intelligence (AI) and other cutting-edge technologies, aiming to introduce research results with real impact and value.

Further strategies to support innovative startups and entrepreneurs include establishing a think tank, setting up a hub for fostering blockchain innovation, launching incubation programs, providing funding opportunities, and co-hosting various events to foster communication between opinion leaders and the global community.

Xinyuan Innovating with Blockchain

Xinyuan has been among the pioneering real estate companies to invest in blockchain in China. In 2015, Xinyuan invested in Beijing Rchain to scrutinize blockchain’s underlying technology, with the primary emphasis placed on the BAAS (Blockchain As A Service) platform.

Through X-Bolts blockchain, Xinyuan has developed suitable applications for the real estate sector, such as Conbow and Golden Bricks.Most recently, Xinyuan Group launched UPRETS, a real estate digitalization platform empowering fractional real estate investment, helping accelerate formatting a regulated online marketplace where real estate ownership is digitalized and fragmented into small shares and traded all over the world. It is the first time such a platform was developed by a listed real estate company in which the company is pioneering in the field.

Most People Will Hold Bitcoin Instead of Investing in Stocks, Bonds or Real Estate, says Market Analyst

After surging to highs of $61,781 over the weekend, Bitcoin (BTC) is experiencing a price correction as the top cryptocurrency is trading at $55,900 at the time of writing, according to CoinMarketCap.

Despite the current pullback, Pierre Rochard, a market analyst and Bitcoin advocate, believes that most people will be inclined towards holding BTC compared to investing in assets like stocks. He explained:

“In the future, most people will just hold Bitcoin instead of investing in stocks, bonds, or real estate. Normal people don’t want to spend time investing; they just want to hold money. Only those actually interested in investing will engage in it.”

His sentiments come at a time when Bitcoin has gained more than 1,200% since it plummeted to lows of $3,800 in March 2020 as the grappling effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) continued to wreak havoc.

At the time, the leading cryptocurrency shed more than 50% of its value in 24 hours as the pandemic triggered shock waves globally. As a result, a flight to cash was witnessed, pushing risk assets like Bitcoin on the receiving end.

Nevertheless, the narrative is different one year down the line because the top cryptocurrency has gone through the roof, making it the best-performing asset of the decade.

Long-term hodlers are accumulating more Bitcoin

According to crypto writer William Clemente III, long-term Bitcoin hodlers or holders are seeing the present pullback as the perfect opportunity to accumulate more BTC as new ones continue selling. He explained that people who have held Bitcoin for three years and more have continued to accumulate Bitcoin, while newer investors, who have only hodl-ed the digital asset for 6-12 months, “have sold into the recent rally.”

Jan &Yann, the co-founders of leading on-chain data provider Glassnode, have stipulated that they are still optimistic of at least one more leg up in the current bull run as strong BTC support has been formed around the $55k area, and this is confirmed by both on-chain and trading volume.

Time will tell how Bitcoin shapes up going forward as institutional interest continues rising.