EGW Capital, the blockchain investment bank, has landed in a row over its plan to use DigiByte blockchain technology for real estate tokenization in India through its RZE stable coin (pegged against the US dollar).
In an exclusive interview with Cult.Today, CEO Rahul Kumar speaks about the recent controversy surrounding his plan to tokenize real estate in Gurgaon, a wealthy suburb of Indian capital, and his views on crypto regulations in the country.
How do you intend to tokenize real estate?
Our real estate tokenization is focused on Asia and the UK. For Asia, our focus is on the emerging markets, we have started a project in India already, the in-depth analysis is currently going on. EGW Capital acts as a banker to these real estate tokenization transactions, and will not be the owner. Anybody can approach us with a commercial asset and we will be ready to advise.
The project which we have just started in India is based in Manesar, Gurgaon, and is a commercial tower called Cyberwalk. Our real estate tokenization will be confined to the commercial assets, earning a stable yield and has a potential of price appreciation in terms of the property value.
“I have already forgiven @vollerjames as I am giving him the benefit of doubt of being extra cautious, but what he did was wrong”
Our tokenization structure is similar to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) instead of trading those shares or units on the stock exchanges it will be traded on the blockchain exchanges. This will boost the demand of the asset and will unlock the valuation of many assets which are currently illiquid due to subdued local demand.
India is one of the fastest growing economies and carries tremendous potential. We just intend to make our local estate available for investment by the investors who otherwise face legal roadblocks while they try to invest in India.
What’s your take on the recent controversy surrounding the tokenization of real estate?
The controversy revolves around DigiByte blockchain and its community on Twitter, and is strictly confined to a single person who is habitual of shaming people who try to build on the DigiByte blockchain. The man who started this Twitter trolling has previously shamed the founders of DigiByte community for their vision and has hurted the sentiments of many community members.
What all happened cannot be even called a controversy, as the community was mature enough to corner such people who act as unwanted guards and discourage people to use the blockchain technology in the real world. I have already forgiven him as I am giving him the benefit of doubt of being extra cautious, but what he did was wrong.
As of now, we only want to use DigiByte platform to keep the records of the sale and purchase of the units, we never targeted the DigiByte community for any fundraising and we have no intent to do so, we have access to the finest investors in the world and we are happy working with sophisticated investors. At the initial stage, our focus is not the retail investors, but the high networth investors who are regular investors in real estate worldwide. We are targeting investors in the Gulf, the USA and China (which is currently on hold due to the India-China border faceoff).
“Indian government must stop relying on local bureaucrats and form a team to work on crypto regulations”
Share your views on crypto regulations in India.
The Indian government must mature on the blockchain subject and must clearly draw rules between usage of Bitcoin and tokenization of real world assets. This whole confusion circling the legal framework can be solved when learned people from the blockchain world are asked to submit their suggestions. The government must stop relying on local bureaucrats and form a team. The Indian blockchain community is ready to be regulated, hence, the government must take the initiative and allow the technology to spread.
The only scare the Indian government has is that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be used for the illegal purposes, which is actually true, but to even buy these currencies the money flows from the banking system, hence the banking system should be strengthened.
Overall, it’s almost impossible for any government in the world to regulate and control blockchain. Indian government must get rid of the fear, even banking systems around the world have been misused by many, this never made the banking system go down. Indian government must stop giving blockchain a step son treatment.
What’s your opinion on Matic and other blockchain projects coming from India, including WazirX.
The future is decentralized technologies, Matic’s framework offers great speed and can make transacting easier. WazirX, on the other hand, is making crypto available to the Indian buyers, once the government opens up fully, such projects will scale uimaginable heights.
