On Real Estate, Sustainable Investing and Blockchain Use
Last week, São Paulo, Brazil investment bank BTG Pactual announced plans to raise $15 million by issuing a security token called ReitBZ. The token will be backed by distressed real estate assets in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. BTG Pactual CEO Roberto Sallouti said, “The technology associated with this offering allows us to be a pioneer in providing access to asset classes that have historically been difficult for global retail investors to access.”
BTG partner Andre Portilho said, “We started experimenting with it a few years back … we thought Bitcoin and other currencies were turning too volatile, but we saw an opportunity with this token to try something new -- but also with our skin in the game.”
Note: BTG Pactual is working with Gemini (founded by the Winklevoss brothers) to receive investment capital and distribute dividends via the Ethereum blockchain.
Separately, Madrid, Spain based BBVA Group announced it “issued the first structured green bond using blockchain technology … to provide its clients cutting-edge products based on the latest technologies and innovative sustainable solutions.”
BBVA Head of Global Sales Juan Garat said “With this deal, BBVA reasserts its firm commitment to both sustainable financing and new technologies. Using ... distributed ledger technology ... allowed us to simplify the processes and streamline the negotiation time frames, which is in line with our pursuit of excellence in customer service.”
Note: Insurance firm MAPFE invested 35 million euros in this offering, which is a private placement six-year term bond.
OUR TAKE
After the hype and crypto-currency prices swings, blockchain technologies are being deployed in a controlled fashion in many industries (including shipping, energy, healthcare, telecommunications, financial services) and supported by organizations such as Amazon, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle.
These early deployments are helping participants learn more about the advantages and weaknesses of the technology and its best uses in commercial production settings.
Expect more deployments and adaptation and less hype as blockchains (in various centralized and distributed forms) are used to improve the processing, trading and management of various physical and digital assets around the world.