Democratising investments: Aqarchain set to launch UAE crowdfunding, tokenisation platform

The blockchain platform, the first of its kind in the GCC, aims to make investing in property a mass market product

Dubai-based Aqarchain, a subsidiary of real estate crowdfunding portal SmartChain, is set to launch an end-to-end blockchain platform on open-source blockchain network, Tezos, for tokenization of the real-estate market.

Aquarchain will soon launch the listing of properties offered by investors and developers and ‘tokenise’ them on Tezos.

According to the company, the blockchain platform will enable smaller investors to own a share of properties, and then benefit from a proportion of rental income while they own the share and capital gains should they choose to exit.

Waqas Nakhwa, Founder and CTO of Aqarchain, said: “Right now, real estate is considered to be an investment where the common man would invest once in a lifetime, but people who have enough liquidity, they have multiple options to invest. We are trying to take this as a mass product.”

Nakhwa, who is also the founder and CEO of SmartChain, told Zawya that he believes the new concept is a gamechanger and a problem solver.

An individual can start investing with AED 100 and an upper limit is set at $50,000, he told Zawya.

Currently, Dubai has the most conducive environment as it is the only city in the GCC to have all its land department property documents and title deeds already on blockchain, Nakhwa said.

Dubai properties which are 100 percent complete and freehold can be listed on Aqarchain as per its DFSA licence. The company, which is currently in the seed funding stage, plans to expand into Saudi Arabia later.

To begin with, the investors will use traditional currencies rather than crypto currencies through Aqarchain but investing using crypto currencies could be a step further down the road for the company