Tokenization_of_Real_Estate_Using_Blockchain_Technology1
Tokenization_of_Real_Estate_Using_Blockchain_Technology1
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6 authors, including:
Ashutosh Gupta
Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute
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1 Introduction
Real estate is a unique and complex asset class. The commercial real estate
market makes up a significant economic global segment in terms of the asset
base and the transactional activity. Although the investment market for real
estate is huge, it has been dominated by a relatively closed network of firms
and organizations able to make large investments which are not liquid. Real
estate is different from various other asset classes as it involves high transaction
costs, land use regulations and other barriers to entry. These characteristics of
2 A. Gupta et al.
real estate have implications for the overall efficiency of the market. While there
have been improvements in the information flow and transaction set up and
completion – we are only at the initial few steps in terms of digitization [14]. A
significant portion of the digitized information is hosted on disparate systems,
which results in a lack of transparency and efficiency, and a higher incidence
of inaccuracies that creates a greater potential for fraud. There is still a lot of
improvement that can be made in real estate when it comes to the use of digital
technology and the representation of physical assets in digital forms.
Blockchain technology could enable the real estate industry to address these
inefficiencies and inaccuracies. Simply said, a blockchain is essentially a shared
and distributed database or ledger. Transactions are processed and bundled in
blocks and the blocks encrypted and cryptographically linked in a chain. The
processing takes place within a network of nodes – either public or private – with
a consensus design intended to decentralize authority such that no single source
is the sole decider of transactional integrity. Rather authority is decentralized
across the operators of the nodes, with each node validating and maintaining
verified copies of the ledger [18]. By recording and combining transactions into
a decentralized, secure ledger, a blockchain network creates a “chain” of chrono-
logical data that no one party has control of or can change and such that each
block and the individual transaction can be verified via cryptography. The trans-
action records are further protected by the replication of the data across nodes
allowing for multiple and verifiable sources of truth. The main contributions of
this paper are:
Real estate is real and tangible property made up of land as well as anything on it
including natural resources, flora and fauna, and buildings. Any real estate falls
into one of the three categories - Residential, Commercial, and Industrial. One of
the traditional methods to invest in real estate is to buy land or property directly
through a real estate broker. Some of the advantages of real estate investments
are competitive risk-adjusted returns, high tangible asset value, and attractive
and stable income returns in the form of rent and leasing fees. Fig. 1 depicts the
various ways to invest in real estate.
Tokenization of Real Estate Using Blockchain Technology 3
3 Preliminaries
3.1 Blockchain
3.2 Ethereum
Ethereum is a global, open-source platform for decentralized applications. It is a
specific blockchain-based software platform that enables the possibility of build-
ing and running smart contracts and Distributed Applications (DApps) [10].
Ether is the cryptocurrency asset employed in the Ethereum blockchain. In some
extent, Ether is the fuel for operating distributed applications over Ethereum.
Using this cryptocurrency, it is possible to make payments to other accounts or
to the machines executing some requested operation. Ether thus enables running
DApps, enabling smart contracts, generating tokens during Initial Coin Offer-
ing (ICOs), i.e., a type of funding using cryptocurrencies, and also for making
standard P2P payments.
A transaction on Ethereum consists mainly of five elements [17], namely,
From (sender), To (Receiver), Gas (fees to be paid for performing operations),
Data/Input (message), and Value (amount transferred in Wei). A consensus al-
gorithm is a procedure through which all the peers of the Blockchain network
reach a common agreement about the present state of the distributed ledger.
Consensus algorithms hence achieve reliability in the Blockchain network and
establish trust between unknown peers in a distributed computing environment.
Proof of Work (PoW) is a consensus algorithm that aims at solving a costly
and time-consuming mathematical puzzle for a new block to be added to the
blockchain and at the same time easy for other nodes to verify it. Proof of
Stake (PoS) concept states that a person can mine or validate block transac-
tions according to how many coins he or she holds. This means that the more
cryptocurrency owned by a miner, the more mining power he or she has. At
present, Ethereum is using Proof of Work. But, it is transitioning into using
Proof of Stake eventually.
the Ethereum Network are generally written using the programming language
Solidity. This Solidity-based smart contract is compiled using Ethereum Vir-
tual Machine (EVM) bytecode and subsequently executed and deployed on the
Ethereum Blockchain [16].
3.4 Tokenization
The tokenization of assets refers to the process of issuing a blockchain token
(specifically, a security token) that digitally represents a real tradable asset [7].
Tokenization is in many ways similar to the traditional process of securitization.
These security tokens are created through a type of initial coin offering (ICO)
sometimes referred to as a security token offering (STO) to distinguish it from
other types of ICOs, which can produce different tokens such as equity, utility, or
payment tokens. An STO can be used to create a digital representation—a secu-
rity token—of an asset, meaning that a security token could represent a share in
a company, ownership of a piece of real estate, or participation in an investment
fund. These security tokens can then be traded on a secondary market. The main
benefits of tokenization of assets are:
This allows investors to be able to invest in those opportunities which would not
otherwise exist and provides an additional source of revenue generation for the
firm sponsoring the Special Purpose Vehicle. Some of the most common uses of
a Special Purpose Vehicle are:
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the ”SEC”) has regulatory authority
over the issuance or resale of any ethereum token or other digital asset that has
the characteristics of an ”investment contract”. Under Securities Act § 2(a)(1)
and Securities Exchange Act § 3(a)(10), a security includes “an investment con-
tract.”. An ”investment contract” has been defined by the U.S. Supreme Court
as an investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation
of profits to be derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others.
On September 11, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New
York held that a digital token can be deemed to be a security under the Howey
test [5].
According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in their Policy State-
ment 19/22, the security tokens are within the regulatory parameter [4]. This
means that firms carrying on specified activities involving security tokens need
to ensure that they have the correct permissions and are following the relevant
rules and requirements.
To make the smart contract associated with the platform legally binding, we
can use the approach as suggested in [12]. The approach involves digitally signing
the legal contract by the different entities involved in the transaction. Once the
legal contracts have been signed, they are added to an immutable distributed
database such as the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and the hashes of these
legal documents are added to the smart contract. This ensures that the smart
contract was legally agreed upon by every party in the transaction and any
disputes can be upheld in a court of law.
The Special Purpose Vehicle owning the asset would be tokenized and the
shares of the Special Purpose Vehicle would be distributed to the token holders.
The Special Purpose Vehicle is treated as a corporation and is subject to laws
8 A. Gupta et al.
The process involves background verification of users (asset owners and investors)
and registering them on the platform. Later, a Special Purpose Vehicle is cre-
ated which holds the title of the asset and is tokenized. The tokens are issued
initially through a security token offering and using smart contracts the monthly
distribution of the income generated by the asset is done to the investors. These
processes are described in detail below:
We propose a common platform where the asset owners can be connected with
the investors. Every Real estate owner, as well as the investors, will have to regis-
ter on the platform. A Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering
(AML) verification for every user registered on the platform would be conducted
through a third-party provider. Basic details regarding the User’s identity would
need to be submitted by the user electronically to the platform. Once the KYC
and AML requirements are satisfied, the user can be able to access the services
of the platform.
view all the asset features such as the location, cost, expected returns and other
details of the asset on the platform. Once the user decides to purchase the token
of the given asset, they will pay the required amount based on the number of
tokens purchased.
If the STO is successful, which means if the STO is able to raise the required
target amount of funds, the investors will receive their corresponding tokens and
the asset title would transfer in the name of the Special Purpose Vehicle offline.
Whereas, if the STO is not successful and is unable to raise the required amount
necessary to purchase the asset, the amount paid by the existing investors would
be refunded and the title ownership would still lie in the name of the original
asset owner.
Once the investors have received their tokens, they would be able to benefit
from the monthly returns of the tokens as well as from the capital appreciation
due to the rise in token value. Since the implemented token is based on Ethereum
and is of the ERC 777 standard, the investors can also freely sell these tokens in
the secondary market via different exchanges where the tokens can be traded.
This ability of trading the tokens ensures liquidity to the investors.
As discussed earlier, the real estate can be used for various purposes. It could be
rented for commercial or residential purposes or it could be a hotel business. In
any case, revenue can be generated from the asset. The profits can be distributed
to the investors in the proportion of the number of tokens they own. This system
can be automated and efficiently implemented using a smart contract. The smart
contract can have the functionality of calculating the percentage of ownership
Tokenization of Real Estate Using Blockchain Technology 11
and smoothly transfer the proportion of profits to the investor without any scope
for frauds or discrepancies. Along with functionality for dividends’ distribution,
additional features for voting of investors in case of any decision taking can also
be implemented.
– name() - This function returns the name of the token in string format
– symbol() - This function returns the symbol of the token in string format
– totalSupply() - This function identifies the total number of tokens created
– balanceOf() - The balanceOf function returns the number of tokens that a
particular address, in this case, the contract owner, has in their account.
– granularity() - This function gets the smallest part of the token that’s not
divisible.The granularity is the smallest amount of tokens (in the internal
denomination) which may be minted, sent or burned at any time.
– defaultOperators() - It gets the list of default operators as defined by the
token contract
– isOperatorFor() - This function indicates whether the operator address is an
operator of the holder address.
12 A. Gupta et al.
On top of these above listed six functions, a function for Asset income distri-
bution is also implemented in the smart contract. The algorithm takes as input
the accumulated wealth which denotes the income accumulated by the Special
Purpose Vehicle over the years and the income which denotes the income of the
Special Purpose Vehicle during the current month. The algorithm is invoked
by the Special Purpose Vehicle at the end of each month. The algorithm first
verifies whether the account which invoked the contract is the Special Purpose
Vehicle. Then for every token holder it calculates the proportion of tokens that
the token holder owns and calculates the dividend distributed to them accord-
ingly. The contract then credits the dividend into each token holders account.
A transaction is emitted to the blockchain stating the respective dividend has
been credited in the Tokenholder’s account.
Tokenization of Real Estate Using Blockchain Technology 13
6 Conclusion
In this paper, we present an approach to introduce liquidity in a real estate in-
vestment by leveraging the use of Blockchain technology. We have used a Special
Purpose Vehicle for the purpose of holding the underlying asset. Special Purpose
Vehicle is tokenized and is providing the investors the flexibility to purchase ERC
777 standard security tokens as per their convenience. A Smart Contract is de-
veloped for the transfer of tokens and also an automated solution for distribution
of dividends is implemented.
The future directions for this work focus on using a Decentralized Autonomous
Organization (DAO) instead of a Special Purpose Vehicle to further improve
decentralization. We can also provide functionality for additional features like
voting and loyalty rewards for token holders. Moreover, each token can also be
structured to represent ownership in the Special Purpose Vehicle which not only
owns a single asset but holds the title for multiple assets belonging to the same
class. For example, tokens can be made to represent shares of a Special Purpose
Vehicle which holds two or more assets.
References
1. Ey-real estate crowdfunding-march 2019.pdf. https://www.ey.com/Publication/vw
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rzKBBvdIEyufEC2AoAT0.pdf, (Accessed on 14/05/2020)
3. The next chapter: creating an understanding of special pur-
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spvs.pdf, (Accessed on 14/05/2020)
4. Ps19/22: Guidance on cryptoassets. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/policy/ps
19-22.pdf, (Accessed on 14/05/2020)
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