What are the thoughts on crypto tokenization of real estate?
Many crypto projects are starting to tokenize real estate.. one example is lofty.AI built on the Algorand block chain. ALGO is a reliable chain founded by an MIT professor but what are the thoughts for folks who have been in the real estate industry for a long time? Tokenization the future?
[{"id": "hnm00jy", "text": "What problem does this solve?", "replies": [{"id": "hnm1mw5", "text": "property transfer relies on recorded title, so you have to go down to the registry of deeds and check on the property and liens,  rights, easements and covenants, before you purchase a property. Often rights are unrecorded or misrecorded and the whole process is archaic.  So you can get into real trouble, without a good lawyer checking, generally right before you purchase.  If a town commits to it, tokenization eliminates the need for recording and makes mistakes and misfilings less likely, and you could have the entire rights history at your fingertips before you even put an offer on.", "replies": [{"id": "hnm5xub", "text": "you just contradicted yourself:\n\nSince this is such a messy process, one that requires the work of attorneys (and this is not optional on large CRE transactions), then just \"putting it on the blockchain\" doesn't really change anything. Whatever data was entered in the blockchain would still need to be scrutinized for accuracy and your lenders will force this to take place, they don't care that the title info has been \"tokenized\"\n\nBut let's say you are right and things can be digitized. If this is still a responsibility of a town/city, why exactly is a decentralized solution necessary? It isn't. Using a plain old database would do the same exact thing\n\nIf the state is dissolved and we go into some weird dystopia, then yes, irrefutable and decentralized records would be nice, but for now, with the current legal system we have right now, \"tokenized\" records are idiotic, just use oracle and stop trying to be cool", "replies": [{"id": "hnm6uab", "text": "But the databases often are incorrect/ towns don't have the means to update them always, so you have to got to the hard copies, which even then may be misfiled.\n\nThis gets over that hurdle of misfiling, since the tokens are self proving.  There would have to be a townwide step to move to tokens and once that occurs the messiness would be erased, Especially for large CRE transactions, you could just rely on the public ledger and understand everything, without any hidden rights popping up.  And it wouldn't have to be last minute like happens in CRE deals, because you don't want the attorney wasting the fees until the deal is done.", "replies": [{"id": "hnmjyyt", "text": "What the hell are you going on about? Tokens are \"self-proving\"? That they are legitimate pieces of a particular dApp? Well sure, but that doesn't say dick about that contents of the smart contract or whatever you are going to use to store title info. \n\nGarbage in and garbage out... in a database, or in a blockchain. It's just data.", "replies": [{"id": "hnmmw5x", "text": "it is just data, the only reason we keep it in a building is because history.  Next you are going to try and sell me a physical encyclopedia.", "replies": [{"id": "hnnt86w", "text": "yea, makes sense because that's an apples to apples comparison", "replies": [], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}, {"id": "hnmrdwp", "text": "Have you personally experienced this?  In my area I can pull yitle docs on a public website.  Yeah I mean they have physical official books too but its really not that hard. \n\nIve never a single time in my life seen or heard of misfiled recordings.  I guess this problem may exist in some random rural counties with like a 500 people population but it also seems really unlikelly theyd be the ones to use block chain.", "replies": [{"id": "hnn3xfy", "text": "They are looking to fix and \"revolutionize\" things that don't really need their tool, most annoying thing about crypto people\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nFull disclosure: ETH holder for years and yes defi will eat a lot of people's lunch", "replies": [], "depth": 6}, {"id": "hnng5eg", "text": "honestly if it starts, the small counties would use block chain first, much easier than going after a major city.  I did get a recording that was misfiled, a partial release  of a mortgage by a sub of a sub of a sub that was for some reason filed with the wrong properties in the mortgage.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}, {"id": "hno6ye5", "text": "The only time I have seen this type of misfiling was in Aspen CO when a mortgage servicer incorrectly recorded the first lien deed of trust in Eagle County instead of Pitkin County. A private second lien is properly recorded at later date, and foreclosed upon. Property sells free &amp; clear of the first at auction bc too bad, no one had notice of the first lienholder's interest in the property.\n\nWould Blockchain help here? Possibly? You're still relying on a human to initially enter PINs or similar, errors will occur.", "replies": [{"id": "hobww28", "text": "No it wouldn't help", "replies": [], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}, {"id": "hnonshw", "text": "You obviously don't process loans in large volumes. I would estimate it could be around 1% miss filed liens. You get tax liens miss filed simply because two people in a city have the same name but only one owns a house that does pay their taxes. Lots of times mortgages are paid off with a refinance but there is no release of lien recording that needs to be resolved.\nThese crypto bros may make a unique token for each property but that doesn't eliminate the legal research involved in liens on title work. This also doesn't even address how spouses have varying rights to title in different states that would make these real estate crypto transfers void without both parties authorization. Every town will follow their own deed deed and lien records and would only view a crypto transfer as some sort of non refundable purchase offer with 100% deposit. The real estate market is crazy but not this bad yet.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}, {"id": "hnnaox4", "text": "You very clearly have never actually undertaken a CRE transaction.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}, {"id": "hnmipzf", "text": "&gt;If the state is dissolved and we go into some weird dystopia\n\nIf this happens, land is going to belong to whoever has the most guns, nobody is going to give a shit about what some decentralized database on the cloud says", "replies": [{"id": "hnmkaud", "text": "Yes, cryptobros fail to understand the power of the $5 wrench attack. But I am giving the anarcho-capitalists the benefit of the doubt and assuming that somehow their property could be defended once they are successful in destroying the state.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "hnn9jbo", "text": "I'm a CRE attorney with a lot of experience in crypto. I consult with municipalities all the time and this is always the first question.\n\n1. \"Entire rights history\" = a title report\n2. Economically, lawyers serve a very specific role - they outsource risk, meaning that if you screw up, you're on the hook for the screwup but if the lawyer screws up, you go after their malpractice. No one doing CRE at any scale will do the work themselves. If you're buying a building for X million dollars, you don't care how the records are stored, you just want your building with clean title.\n3. Property rights are heavily negotiated documents - every word and every comma matters so whoever is examining this record (and putting their malpractice insurance on the line) needs to see exactly what's there and what isn't. Putting this document on the blockchain is another place to see it, but if I'm representing a buyer and someone says \"there's a sewer easement on the blockchain\" my response is \"let me see what the easement says.\" I don't see what value blockchain brings in this situation.\n4. There are trillions of dollars of real estate debt issued under the assumption that land records are what they are. You can't just decide one day to move everything over to blockchain. The level and scale of chaos this would cause is, and I use this term in the literal sense, unimaginable.", "replies": [{"id": "hnne2kj", "text": "I'm also a CRE attorney, no experience in crypto yet, but I took the MIT sloane course on it last year.\n\n1. The idea isn't to pull lawyers out, but to do due diligence earlier.\n2. That easement on the blockchain will trigger further investigation, the same way exceptions on an old title policy do. That's the point, it creates more checks and is easier to check\n3. I don't know what to say about people who live through the crash and talk about fundamental truths of real estate.  Also tech is what you make of it, noone could have imagined electronic signatures as universally accepted 20 years ago. It take trillions of man hours to set up that kind of electronic, yada yada.\n\nHonestly, before I took the class I was like you. You just need a little vision. remind me in 5 years to come back to this.", "replies": [{"id": "hnneaum", "text": "I'm willing to admit when i'm wrong - what class did you take?", "replies": [{"id": "hnnf04y", "text": "[https://executive.mit.edu/course/blockchain-technologies/a056g00000URaa7AAD.html](https://executive.mit.edu/course/blockchain-technologies/a056g00000URaa7AAD.html)\n\nhonestly I wanted to understand business uses to further my career, but long and short of it is that we are still at the ground floor so the class gives you a great idea of what is possible.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hnm583z", "text": "None whatsoever.  Classic case of cryptobros trying to turn everything into a problem that can be solved with the bLoCkChaIn.  Annoying this garbage is starting to leak into real estate.", "replies": [{"id": "hnmi8o6", "text": "Ngmi", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hnn8g03", "text": "Tokenization gives retail investors more access to commercial deals, as well as greater levels of liquidity.  Given that homeownership among Millennials and Zoomers will be considerably lower than prior generations, it unlocks access to an asset class that's less correlated to the stock market and is a much better inflation hedge.\n\nFurther, NFT's represent an evolution in digitized title deeds.  Given the fractured nature of how tax assessor data is collected, use of centralized ledgers and smart contracts will provide more transparency about asset ownership for property buyers (think about the rug pulls that happen in commercial deals all the time around that).", "replies": [{"id": "hnnbz7x", "text": "I still don't see where tokenization is better than membership interests in an LLC. When you buy a piece of an LLC that owns real property you're buying a set of negotiated rights (withdrawal, waterfall, etc.). Now, you can have a token that has those same rights, but those rights need the same level of scrutiny, which means you're hiring a lawyer to review it. I don't see the value tokenization brings to the party.", "replies": [{"id": "hno1yq4", "text": "I think it\u2019s the liquidity piece. Membership requires agreements etc. vs. who ever possesses the token has the value so if someone wants to liquidate their share of a real estate deal they can sell it on a marketplace", "replies": [{"id": "hno2eya", "text": "Not necessarily. What you mentioned is the equivalent of a spouse inheriting a membership interest as part of the decedents estate. In those types of situations, the spouse is usually not a member unless the other members consent to it. That's a statutory provision in a lot of state law. For example, New York limited liability company law section 603 provides that an assignment of a membership interest does not make the assignee a member.\n\nAlso, most operating agreements prohibit the marketing of membership interests like you mentioned.", "replies": [{"id": "hno2u6a", "text": "I think you proved what I was saying.. most operating agreements don\u2019t allow you to market your share. Tokenization allows you to sell and do what you please with it because the value is tied to a token not to the person that holds it. Shareholding vs. token holding.", "replies": [{"id": "hno2zq3", "text": "From the example you gave The token would represent the membership interest, which includes the limitation on marketing the interest. Interest. Whether the operating agreement is a piece of paper or a token doesn't change the rights conferred.\n\nThe member holds the membership interest. - they're two different things. I don't see why the interest being represented by an operating agreement with a signature on it versus a token changes the right of the member.\n\nIf you're saying it makes it easier to do something you're not supposed to do, I don't know that it encourages adoption of crypto...", "replies": [{"id": "hno3s32", "text": "I think you are still thinking that tokenization = the bundle rights conveyed with a property. I don\u2019t think that is what loft.AI is doing. I think the token is held like a currency asset and the value of that asset is derived off the properties income generator or value on sale. That\u2019s why I think it gets around the liquidity piece because no rights are conveyed with transfer of the token.. the token has an individual value that pegs off the property. That\u2019s how I read it at least. Basically it\u2019s like REITS but with fancy blockchain tech. \n\nSmarter people can correct me", "replies": [{"id": "hno4dww", "text": "So then we're not talking about membership in the entity that owns the property - you're talking about ownership of the property itself, meaning actual names on the deed? There's a reason that ownership of properties is done through corporate entities. - If we use your scenario and ownership of the actual property is tokenized and I buy 1/8 of the \" property\" what do I get for my money? Do I get a monthly check of income minus expenses? Who decides how much should be saved for a repair budget? Who decides whether the distributions are monthly or bi-monthly or yearly? Corporate entities allow you to specify these things, whereas names on a deed inevitably leads to litigation.\n\nIf the token comes with predetermined rules for all of this, I'm having trouble seeing the benefit of a token versus an LLC with an operating agreement.\n\n\nEdit - I just checked the lofty.ai site. The properties are actually managed day by day by third-party manager with a management agreement with lofty.ai. So the distribution I'm talking about is subject to a contract with the management company. Your tokenized direct ownership interest in the property is subject to that boring old paper and pen management agreement. Incidentally, I'd be curious to know the actual name on the deed that's recorded in the county clerk's office in whatever county these properties are in and that's on the management agreement. I'd be willing to bet that it's lofty AI Inc. which means that instead of signing an operating agreement, you click accept to a terms of service on their website.", "replies": [{"id": "hno5l5z", "text": " Well I think that\u2019s the difference is there is no like operating agreement or expressed interest that says this token gets you x percentage of the profits. I think the idea is that your token carries an associated value (like a currency) and the value is set in the market based on the asset pool. So IE value of the real asset increases, the value of the token increases. Again not sure how it\u2019s super different from REITS but I do know in the block chain world the big reason everyone loves it is fast transactions and low fees. So basically it\u2019s like a REIT share with out the baggage. Again, this is my guess at the value prop. I like crypto. I think it\u2019s got applications I am just trying to better understand if they have real added benefit in CRE", "replies": [{"id": "hnoh0zy", "text": "I can trade a share of a reit on my Ameritrade account as quickly as the site can match my order (essentially instantaneously) and for no commission. I'd imagine that loftys trading platform will take a cut of the transaction. Maybe someone will find something down the road but right now the value prop seems extremely limited.", "replies": [{"id": "hnpmi9d", "text": "Yea fully agree there. Kind of funny seeing how angry some people are bringing all of this up. All my comments are downvoted even though I\u2019m literally just trying to have a conversation on the validity haha crypto is probably here to stay now and it seems to creep it\u2019s way into a lot of stuff so I think the CRE industry does need to start talking about it more to stay ahead of the cryptobruhs trying to exploit another market haha \n\nThanks for the conversation about it", "replies": [], "depth": 12}], "depth": 11}], "depth": 10}], "depth": 9}], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hnnb83o", "text": "If your counties or jurisdictions are looking for an upgrade, try the Torrens system. No block chain needed", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hno1f2d", "text": "I could see like NFTs replacing titles/title insurance but I\u2019m kind of the same boat where this just seems like a fancy way to do a syndication?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hnpno5a", "text": "It can centralize ownership records and take it away from these cheap ass little counties that have bad record keeping.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnm0f0y", "text": "Not the future. Decentralization would be horribly inefficient for real estate. It\u2019s already horribly inefficient for basic transactions.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnm16sl", "text": "Looked at the lofty AI website, but I dont even understand what this is doing?  \nLike what service is it creating here?", "replies": [{"id": "hnoch8k", "text": "I looked at it a couple of months ago, I signed in and made an account and they send properties with some basic financials that you can invest in.  Not sure if they\u2019re cap rates and IRR is as good as they say.  Basically you invest on the algorand  block chain with tokens and fractional interest in  the properties they offer.", "replies": [{"id": "hnqqp21", "text": "How do these properties get converted into money on this blockchain?", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnm3bnf", "text": "You think the Title lobby would ever let this go mainstream? Keep dreaming.", "replies": [{"id": "hnmhpqb", "text": "Modernizing title insurance is probably one of the best real world use cases for blockchain technology but as you said... the big 4 won't let that happen.", "replies": [{"id": "hnmtgwt", "text": "Why would title care if they pull of a block chain or the recorder?   I dont understand why this would make any difference to title at all", "replies": [{"id": "hnn59pn", "text": "Not the history of title; the policy itself. Title companies love churn. You own a property for 50 years, one premium. You sell after 3 years they get to write a new policy and charge a fresh premium to the new owner/lender and they are only taking an incremental risk versus the last policy.  Why can't someone house a title policy on the blockchain and charge the new owner a much smaller fee to update  and change the ownership.", "replies": [{"id": "hnnb50q", "text": "So say I buy a property and sell in 3 years.\n\nI can call the last title insurer and see if they will reissue at a discount, and if so they will pull the new docs if any from the recorder and add these to the policy and issue the insurance, probably over email in a pdf.\n\nPretend block title is a thing.  All the above happens but they pull the old insurance from the chain instead of it getting emailed then look for new docs on the chain and reissue to the chain instead of email.\n\nWhy is the second one cheaper ?", "replies": [{"id": "hnncbzj", "text": "Back-title (to the extent seller has it) is a regular ask in CRE", "replies": [{"id": "hnncjlj", "text": "I know thats why i completely dont understand why it being on a block chain makes any difference", "replies": [{"id": "hnncmno", "text": "completely agree. solution in search of a problem.", "replies": [], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}, {"id": "hnnhq22", "text": "What is the % discount you get from the last title issuer versus a new policy?  How long before a company will refuse to reissue at any discount? Does \"block title\" insurance necessarily have to be cheaper?  Could eliminating the human propensity to lose &amp; forget things be worth it? \n\nMy point is simply; of all of the touted \"revolutions coming from crypto/blockchain there is actually a case for the title insurance industry (and you described it fairly well). Since this is a $21 billion per year industry in America with a stupid low pay out rate (which implies a market inefficiency to me given it is insurance) it seems a lot more ripe for disruption than most crypto schemes.", "replies": [{"id": "hnnj3wn", "text": "We have a solution to losing and forgetting stuff though.  If that is the problem we are solving why not just pass a law requiring title insurance to be recorded?  What would the benefit to block chain be over that?", "replies": [{"id": "hnnn726", "text": "50 laws for each state that already do real estate slightly (or significantly) different? \n\nAlso you're ignoring the first two questions.", "replies": [], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnm3meb", "text": "Smart contracts probably will replace a lot of escrow companies and title companies can probably be done as well. Things that are public record I guess could be put into the chain but having centralized data sources from the government would be superior.", "replies": [{"id": "hnm67vs", "text": "Exactly, as long as we still have government records, then there is no need for a blockchain to serve where a normal database would do the same job much more efficiently", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnm7pnt", "text": "Its the classic case of a solution looking for a problem, rather than a problem needing a solution, most of the time\n\nCRE transactions are too messy, too heterogeneous, requires *so much* legal work, must be tailored to the needs of individual investors, lenders, tax authorities...\n\nPoint being that each deal is unique and \"tokenizing\" bits and pieces of the process is not likely to revolutionize things that dramatically\n\nYes, smart contracts for escrow (where the parties and laws permit) will be an upgrade, but that can be accomplished on pseudo blockchains like hyperledger operated by title/escrow companies, its not going to change things that much though\n\nRaising equity is also a small use case, but honestly people are getting into CRE for 5 year investment periods, not so that they can own a \"piece\" of a building. It's a nice gimmick, but don't REITS provide the same utility (and also more diversification)?\n\nFor NFTs its really different: The biggest use case is in metaverse virtual real estate: buying the virtual land that can then be sold to a \"developer\" of virtual shopping centers. This is showing tremendous growth but is its own niche market and for now, while most of us are not forced into living in the metaverse half the time, not that helpful for most people. This will change as more companies require working from home to include being logged into the virtual office with your meta helmet on.", "replies": [{"id": "hnm9mew", "text": "God I hope what you just wrote about meta verse never happens on a large scale haha", "replies": [{"id": "hnmj874", "text": "It's coming, albeit slowly:\n\nhttps://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/virtual-real-estate-plot-sells-record-24-million-2021-11-23/", "replies": [{"id": "hnmlctg", "text": "Looked into meta land. Seems fishy. Came to the conclusion that one can\u2019t trust any of these reported sales are actually arm\u2019s length.", "replies": [{"id": "hnsxpgk", "text": "How many metaverses are there? Isn\u2019t this like Amazon building their own, Roblox, Etc?", "replies": [{"id": "hoc89l7", "text": "They will eventually all be integrated", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}, {"id": "hno7o1f", "text": "Didn't we see this ten years ago with some failed venture? Maybe it sticks this time, who knows.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hnnzppm", "text": "I agree that tokenizing the physical realestate itself likely won't be very helpful compared to where we are now. That's like early internet companies just putting magazines online. Sure it's a little better, but the real innovations happened when the model was changed and social/creator economies started.\n\n That said, I do see value in \"city-coins\" as a proxy for overall market trends/value. A city issuing their own coin and incentivizing certain behavior (solar energy credits, using public transport)  using rewards in that coin. Essentially creating an index of market sentiment towards that city, it's culture, regulations, real estate, etc. Politicians will use it as evidence of positive performance (i.e. improved city token price by x).\n\nNo way this is adopted any time soon, societal changes on this scale take a long time. But smaller experiments in cities like Miami and SF are happening soonish iirc.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnmmyau", "text": "This sounds like a recipe for disaster", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnmqseb", "text": "What do you do if you lose a key or the seller refuses to transfer (ie in a foreclosure)?  \n\nThats what I never get in this stuff.  That either breaks the system or there is a mechanism for an authority to add stuff to the chain and override and if thats the case then why is iy any different than them just recording a deed in their existing system ?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnmt9ls", "text": "To me it seems like any other form of syndication with unnecessary extra steps", "replies": [{"id": "hnn4q1m", "text": "Bingo\n\nPlus, as a sponsor, do you want your LPs to be able to \"trade\" their tokenized part of the deal?\n\nBuy fractions of a REIT and call it good if you want to play the red and green candle game", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hno15dp", "text": "Kind of my thoughts", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnn4pxz", "text": "Fractional ownership of property. Investors can buy tokens as a fraction of the property\u2019s value and yield.\nAlso gives investors liquidity and ability to sell on the open market.", "replies": [{"id": "hno6eo6", "text": "Fractional ownership currently exists though right? Would buying be easier than the current process? Sounds like it but what\u2019s the true benefit tokenizing the industry?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnnr0zq", "text": "Smartlands Network", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnnwgd2", "text": "Those damn liberals in Cook County successfully executed digital transactions using Bitcoin blockchain technology but my understanding was the resistance by employee stakeholders helped crater further effort. Also, because Bitcoin is not efficient at all, that specific protocol wasn't seen as sustainable unless switched to another blockchain technology that uses less energy (I like ALGO and own some). Here's the report: [http://cookrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Final-Report-CCRD-Blockchain-Pilot-Program-for-web.pdf](http://cookrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Final-Report-CCRD-Blockchain-Pilot-Program-for-web.pdf)\n\nThere could be applications with recorded instruments being more secure and efficient, fulfilling a long-sought-after goal of CRE people who think about these things. But as noted in the report, trying to change to the legal side to fit the technology is the backward way of going about it. We should be fitting technology to the existing legal structures we have.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnnzmxk", "text": "LOL! Real Estate is already in limited supply. No need for cryptobrahs.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hno5mxz", "text": "Lots of good stuff here but the concept is difficult to grasp because much of it doesn\u2019t exist in practice yet. I won\u2019t claim to understand this industry but it is fascinating. So perhaps someone can clarify, tokenizing real estate could make it easier for people to purchase a piece of a property since the current process of reits and syndicates are convoluted for the average newbie buyer/investor?", "replies": [{"id": "hno5stf", "text": "Yea that\u2019s kind of what I am thinking too. I think generally most of the value prop comes from simplifying things and adding transparency by having everything on the block chain.", "replies": [{"id": "hnoggdw", "text": "So I've been thinking about this for a bit the last few weeks. Tokenization of CRE is an interesting concept. I have very little understanding of Crypto in general, but to my mind if the RE is tokened, what actually happens is a currency is created that is backed by the underlying value of the RE. It would essentially be moving back to the gold standard. It unlocks the equity in a property converting an illiquid asset to a liquid one.  \n\n\nThe ownership structure, at least in my mind, would very much look like a publicly traded REIT substituting the token for the share of stock. I could be way off base though due to my lack of knowledge about Crypto.", "replies": [{"id": "hnpmno3", "text": "Yea that\u2019s essentially what is going on and instead of the REIT being held by the broker, the individual holds the token and can exchange it on any marketplace based on its associated value. Opens up the liquidity quite a bit really", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnp7tgf", "text": "The only people who stand to benefit from this are scammers and thieves.", "replies": [{"id": "hnpm9sd", "text": "Definitely possible. That\u2019s why I think if it is ever widely accepted it has to be on a block chain and is accepted and regulated by the government", "replies": [{"id": "hns2olg", "text": "It's a fundamentally stupid idea. It's got literally zero upside to anyone except scammers and thieves.\n\n[Why anyone would think a system like this is desirable is beyond me.](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/13/half-a-billion-in-bitcoin-lost-in-the-dump)", "replies": [{"id": "hns8sfx", "text": "I think some people would disagree haha but hey you\u2019re entitled to your own opinion.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hnpml2a", "text": "Fake", "replies": [{"id": "hnq0tqo", "text": "Huh?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ho10605", "text": "Blockchain will probably become prevalent the way we track chain of title. Some of the larger title companies are already making moves to adapt. \n\nAdditionally, people are floating creating coins for specific properties or portfolios the way you\u2019d have shares (I guess the theory is they\u2019d be more secure).\n\nIt\u2019s a little iffy imo, but farmers probably said the same thing when tractors were invented.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i25mvo4", "text": "Blockchain technology will allow for a whole new level of real estate investments and ownership. Tokenization is the process of converting rights to an asset into a digital token, which can be sold as an equity stake in the asset. The owner of the token would then have full control over their investment, including voting rights and distribution of any profits or dividends.Parcel tokens are a type of token that represent fractions of property ownership. A parcel token allows its holder to legally own part of that property, with all the benefits that come along with it. Parcel tokens offer fractionalized ownership opportunities in high-value property, such as large estates or luxury resorts. They also provide easy access to international markets with no exchange controls or currency restrictions.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]