Given our background as both real estate and venture capital investors, the topic of real estate tokenization is almost unavoidable. As one of the hottest (and most controversial) trends in PropTech today, we are constantly asked for our thoughts and viewpoints on the space. We conducted a “deep dive” and were excited to meet with talented and ambitious entrepreneurs going after a massive market opportunity.
We were relatively well informed of the potential benefits of tokenization (democratization, liquidity, blockchain efficiencies, etc.), and were pleasantly surprised to learn of the multiple properties that had already been “tokenized.” The promise of a “liquid real estate stock exchange” and the “ease and lower costs of asset transfer” were particularly appealing. For instance, imagine a world in which you can transact in real estate without needing to deal with lawyers, escrow and title. From both a time and savings perspective, this would be an enormous upgrade that would benefit the entire property industry (at the expense of lawyers, escrow and title companies of course).