Story originally posted on coingape.com by Casper Brown in Blockchain News
Max Property Group (MPG), an international real estate property group, has secured regulatory approval for a blockchain-based crowdfunding platform. Built on the Ardor blockchain, the investment platform, known as Max Crowdfund, will enable investors to acquire a stake in new property developments with as little as €100. Blockchain will be integrated into the platform to provide transparency, enabling investors to view all transactions on-chain and to determine the subscription rate for particular projects.
Jelurida, the developer that maintains the Ardor chain, will provide advisory support for the project as MPG prepares to launch Max Crowdfund and begin taking pledges for the first investment opportunities. The platform was approved by the Financial Markets Authority in the Netherlands (AFM) in what’s believed to be the first deal of its kind involving blockchain technology.
Lowering the Barriers to Real Estate Investment
MPG was founded with the goal of making real estate investment accessible to a broader audience. This entails reducing the minimum check size and eliminating intermediaries and red tape while meeting all due regulatory requirements. The result is Max Crowdfund, an investment platform that has more than 72,000 investors ready to go the moment the first subscription opportunities are made available.
With the AFM has now approved the project, investors shouldn’t have to wait long to take a stake in developments that include a holiday park in Rotterdam that’s set for expansion. The idea is that MPG’s experienced investment team will perform due diligence on all developments before recommending the best ones to their community and listing them on Max Crowdfund.
Using the capabilities provided by the Ardor blockchain, MPG can ensure that assets are only bought and traded by verified users who are entitled to ownership. This ability is believed to have been critical in convincing Dutch regulators to greenlight the project.
Using the Max Crowdfund platform, investors can view their current account balance, portfolio status, and performance and access monthly, quarterly and annual investment reports.
Erwin van Kekem, Max Property Group’s CTO, said: “It has been several years since we initiated the development of Max Crowdfund and obtaining the approval from the AFM was a long 10-month process due to the blockchain component, but we are extremely pleased that we can finally officially go live.”
Blockchain Meets Real Estate
Blockchain proponents have highlighted synergies between distributed ledger technology and real estate for some time, but few initiatives have made it past the pilot phase. Because real-world assets can be tokenized and represented on-chain, it opens the door to intriguing possibilities, including part ownership of properties, and the ability to create portfolios that can be rebalanced using blockchain.
In the US, Harbor has been leading the fight to make illiquid assets such as real estate tradable on-chain. Max Property Group’s crowdfunding platform is a first in the Netherlands, though. Its launch suggests the shape of real estate investing to come: more democratic and more efficient, providing a better deal for investors and developers alike.
