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NFT Use Cases in Real Estate
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are changing how we think about asset ownership in the real world and in the digital world. NFTs—unique digital tokens stored on a blockchain ledger that represent ...
NFTs in the Traditional Real Estate Industry
Real Property Ownership
NFTs can be used to represent ownership of real-world property. Currently, deeds serve this function and buyers employ title insurance companies, escrow holders and lawyers to authenticate deeds and search for encumbrances in public title records. NFTs can provide a way to potentially bypass trusted intermediaries because blockchains can verify ownership, identify title encumbrances and settle transactions more efficiently. In May 2021, Propy, a technology company active in this space, helped TechCrunch founder, Michael Arrington, list his apartment in Kiev, Ukraine, as a real estate-backed NFT. The property sold for over $93,000 and Propy touted this achievement as “the world’s first real estate NFT.” On April 12, 2022, Propy sold another property in Hyde Park, Tampa, as an NFT for $215,000.
Examples like this are likely to remain rare in the U.S. for some time because well-established laws and county land record offices do not recognize transfers of ownership with NFTs. The traditional real estate industry and its entrenched stakeholders will likely be slow to adopt this new technology.
Fractionalized Investments and Loyalty Programs
Real estate investments are capital intensive, so some entrepreneurs have turned to NFTs and digital coins to raise funds for their projects. In 2018, the St. Regis Aspen Resort sold an 18.9% ownership stake in the hotel through token sales of “Aspen Coins.” Investors could buy coins with U.S. dollars, bitcoin or ether. Omni-Psi, a real estate investment startup, raises funds from investors to buy properties by issuing ORT tokens. Revenue is distributed to token holders pro rata on an ongoing basis. Lofty AI is a technology startup that has created an online marketplace in which anyone can invest as little as $50 to buy a digital token equivalent to a stake in a single-property rental business. Each token represents a share of ownership in a Delaware limited liability company. Other platforms use art NFTs to attract interest in their real estate offerings. OXO Living, an Indonesian boutique developer, sold NFTs that “represented” the physical homes they were selling in Bali. The owner of a home had a right of first refusal on the NFT that was associated with his or her home. Anyone who had a crypto wallet could make an offer on an NFT. On a smaller scale, homeowners in need of liquidity can use platforms like Vesta Equity to raise equity from their homes by issuing tokens that represent fractional ownership interests.
Loyalty programs are also utilizing this technology. Marriott Bonvoy, the hotel chain’s rewards program, conducted a lottery at Art Basel, Miami, in which NFTs were distributed to three winners. Each winner was also awarded 200,000 loyalty points. AMC Theatres awarded around 86,000 NFTs to select loyalty members during the launch of the new Spiderman movie No Way Home.
