NEW YORK, July 30, 2020 — Tourists are seen outside New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United … [+]
tZERO announced on Monday, August 24th, that secondary trading of the St. Regis Aspen digital security commenced on the tZERO ATS, marking the platform’s first third-party security. This is the first digital security trading on a regulated platform that utilizes tZero’s blockchain system. The shares represent approximately 19 percent of ownership in the St. Regis Aspen Resort, a five-star, 179-room luxury hotel that is located in Aspen, Colorado.
In July CEO Saum Noursalehi said that tZERO entered into a partnership with Aspen Digital Inc. to enable its digital security (ASPEN) to trade on the tZERO ATS platform. The ASPEN shares represent $18 million of indirect ownership in the St. Regis Aspen Resort, Colorado.
Real estate tokens have been a blockchain fan-favorite use-case for a while, but few to none have made it more than a business prototype. This announcement by tZERO seems a significant step to large scale retail trading of blockchain-based real estate. Mr. Noursalehi continued, “I am excited to announce that we are partnering with Aspen Digital to trade the St. Regis Aspen token. This is a major milestone towards democratizing access to commercial real estate.”
Interestingly this new security is not associated with the Overstock brand, which owns tZERO as a subsidiary through Medici Ventures. Adding ASPEN as new blood to its blockchain brokerage could help the start-up attract other companies seeking to access public investment away from traditional IPO markets.