Key Points
- This is the first time ROI Group is issuing digital securities for their real estate business, and they plan issue more in the future.
- The digital security will use tZERO’s smart contract technology, Megalodon’s management consultancy services, and will be built on the Tezos Blockchain.
- The hotel and residential development project is located in downtown Dubai.
- ROI Group expects to issue the digital securities in Q3 of 2021, and the development of the project is expected to be completed in Q4 of 2023.
United Arab Emirates, March 2, 2021 /AlexaBlockchain/ – Global real estate developer ROI Group has partnered with blockchain technology provider tZERO to digitize up to $50 million of preferred equity in a luxury hotel and residential development located in downtown Dubai on the Tezos Blockchain.
The partnership represents ROI Group™’s first digital security project of what could be one of many future digital security offerings. Headquartered in New York, ROI Group™ has multi-billion dollars in assets under management, with properties in the United States, Canada, and the Middle East. It specializes in land development, real estate investments, and passive co-investing.
The digital security will use tZERO’s smart contract technology, Megalodon’s management consultancy services, and will be built on the Tezos Blockchain. ROI Group™ expects to issue the digital securities, subject to applicable law and separate documentation, in Q3 of 2021, and the development of the building is expected to be completed in Q4 of 2023. It is further expected that the digital security will become tradeable on the tZERO ATS, subject to legal and regulatory due diligence, offering investors secondary liquidity.
tZERO CEO Saum Noursalehi stated:
“Our partnership with ROI Group™ has the ability to transform the real estate sector and builds upon our momentum in the space. We are excited about our project to digitize and trade up to $50 million in this landmark luxury hotel and residential development.”
A real estate digital security offering is the process of raising capital and issuing digital securities representing ownership and economic interests in an underlying asset. The ability to provide secondary liquidity for investors on a regulated trading platform is an important differentiator for traditionally illiquid assets, such as real estate.
Commenting on its first ever use of blockchain to issue digital securities, ROI Group CEO Martin Scholz said:
“We partner with the world’s leading real estate companies, brands, financial institutions, and now technology firms. We are excited to utilize tZERO’s smart contract technology on the Tezos Blockchain for our first digital securities offering to provide access and liquidity to commercial real estate. We look forward to collaborating with tZERO on future real estate projects.”
tZERO describes itself as a technology firm with the goal of democratizing access to private capital markets. tZERO is a subsidiary of Medici Ventures, the blockchain-focused, wholly owned subsidiary of Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK).
