A luxurious 12-unit Manhattan condo development worth $30 million has become the first major asset in New York City to be tokenised on the Ethereum blockchain.

The building, a completed 12 unit construction with 1700 sq ft units located on 436 & 442 E 13th St in the East Village, is brokered by Ryan Serhant, bestselling author of Sell It Like Serhant and star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York.

“The market in New York is always strong, but it can take some time to sell for the right price in a new construction building,” Serhant says in an interview with Forbes. “With blockchain tokenisation, we can remove the unruly pressure of traditional bank financing, which is much healthier for the project and all of the stakeholders.”

He believes “tokenisation is paving the way for a new forefront in real estate development”.

The case in Manhattan

Serhant and the condo developer can tokenise thanks to a new method of financing made possible by Propellr and Fluidity who have joined forces to offer compliant products and services for the creation, distribution, and transfer of digital securities.

Investors in the condo will be afforded the option of receiving analogue or digital interests in the securities, which should cover all bases for potential buyers of the transaction. AirSwap technology will be incorporated into the offering process, including “tokenising” the securities and allowing for a compliant secondary market to emerge.

“Along with our flagship AirSwap, we’re building a system that brings local assets online using blockchain technology,” says Fluidity Co-Founder Don Mosites in the interview with Forbes. “This makes them available for trade on a global marketplace—directly among buyers and sellers. Fluidity is forming the foundation of a new system of tokenisation and trade.”

The tokenisation structure for the condo was contemplated and published in The Two Token Waterfall, a framework for applying blockchain technology to the entire capitalisation of a real estate transaction.

“Going to market with a landmark deal allows us to make a statement—that this technology is now real. With the right partners and an optimised structure, we are bringing a major real-world asset online. We are grateful we have the opportunity to lead the blockchain community in this new paradigm,” says Michael Oved, Co-founder of Fluidity.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.