Overstock’s blockchain arm tZERO will provide its technology to tokenize River Plaza, a luxury residential development in Manchester, United Kingdom.
Following a partnership with U.K.-based real estate investment firm Alliance Investments, tZERO plans to tokenize at least $25 million of River Plaza on the Tezos blockchain, according to a press release on Oct. 30.
A 180-unit luxury residential development, River Plaza is the first initiative of Alliance Investments’ real estate tokenization plan to tokenize around $640 million of real estate projects across the U.K. over the next several years. The security token offering is expected to launch in Q1 2020.
Democratizing access and enhancing liquidity
Specifically, River Plaza’s security tokens are expected to boost real estate liquidity for investors through tZERO’s secondary trading, which is operated by tZERO’s broker-dealer subsidiary PRO Securities.
The CEO of tZERO, Saum Noursalehi, said that tokenizing real estate assets will democratize investor access to projects and improve liquidity in the market.
Citing a 2016 Savills World Research Report, tZERO stated that at $217 trillion, real estate represents the largest asset class in the world, but only one-third of that class is reasonably available to the public.
In mid-September, American blockchain real estate investment firm AssetBlock launched its commercial real estate investment platform using the Algorand blockchain. The firm reportedly partnered with luxury hotel asset manager Lodging Capital Partners to tokenize $60 million of exclusive hotel properties.
On Oct. 17, Dubai-based real estate giant Emaar Properties introduced its new blockchain token-based referral and loyalty platform, also revealing plans to launch the tradeable and redeemable EMR token.