Digital Melting: Making Illiquid Real Estate Assets Liquid Through Tokenization

The real estate industry has notoriously been resistant to technological change. Only ten years ago, the signing and faxing of sales contracts were still commonplace, long after most industries had recognized digital signatures. So, the irony isn’t lost that the real estate industry will be the testing ground for technological advances that enhance the investor experience, while opening the doors to millions who were previously shut out from participating. A paradigm shift in real estate investing is upon us. Driven by Blockchain technology, fractionalized ownership will soon find new pathways to liquidity. While neither blockchain nor fractionalized ownership are new or necessary for real estate investment, the immutable record keeping of blockchain provides a layer of data security that was previously cost prohibitive. What this means for fractionalized ownership is that, now, ownership shares can be traded on secondary markets in accordance with Security Exchange Commission regulations. This cures one of the top pain points in real estate investment— the illiquid holding period. As more broker-dealers create Alternative Trading Systems, more liquidity will enter those secondary markets. Investors will be able to sell, while previously shut-out, non-accredited investors can participate. The future is coming, and I have parsed it down into plain English.