Reference no: EM132517679
Blocksquare, a company headquartered in Slovenia, is looking to further transform the real estate market by providing a simple and safe way for online users to buy or sell commercial properties around the world. Blocksquare styles itself as the blockchain and real estate equivalent to the online-payment companies PayPal and Stripe, and has developed a set of protocols, tools, and APIs that can be integrated into existing online property platforms. The company has effectively created the infrastructure for a global commercial real estate market run on blockchain technology by enabling asset-management companies around the world to divide individual properties into virtual currency tokens. Real estate firms can then issue tokens for the properties they manage. Tokens can be bought or sold online via a decentralized, peer-to-peer system.
Tokenizing real estate opens the market to a global network of internet users, making it easier and more attractive for people to invest in commercial property. As a commercial property manager, Ruth has no doubt that this will have important implications for businesses and financial practitioners involved in the sale and purchase of commercial real estate. While changes in the payment ecosystem for commercial property would be of benefit to some, they would have a negative effect on others. Ruth sits down to draft a brief to her team so that they can consider the consequences of these developments.
Visit Blocksquare's website and do some additional research to learn more about tokenizing real estate. Use the following questions to guide your research:
- What exactly does "tokenizing" commercial real estate mean, and what will this entail?
- Which processes will be streamlined through the use of online payments and blockchain technology?
- What are the costs and risks involved?
- Who stands to benefit from revolutionizing payments?
- Which products and services will cease to exist?