It could be a smart business play for Republic, which noted how blockchains can increase access and opportunities to invest in assets that are usually off limits to most people. “For millions of global retail investors, investing in private assets like startups, real estate, and fine art is opaque, highly illiquid, and mostly inaccessible,” Andrew Durgee said in a statement. “Tokenization solves all of these problems. It’s why we built Republic Wallet.”