Origin Protocol, Roofstock to buy, sell homes using NFTs on blockchain

Protocol of origin and Ceiling carpet has announced a new marketplace for single-family homes that can be bought and sold through non-fungible tokens on a blockchain.

The platform, Roofstock onChain, is set up to accommodate payments in USD Coin for digital objects, or NFTs, that represent real homes. (USD is a type of stablecoin that has a one-for-one exchange rate with the US dollar so that it does not have the volatile fluctuations in values ​​that other cryptocurrencies have.) Ownership is recorded on the blockchain, which acts as an immutable ledger and is increasingly used in the secondary market for debt.

The collaboration between the technology company and the single-family rental company started small with a couple of listings, but eventually aims to sell real estate through non-fungible tokens on a wider scale than others have done in the past.

“The Roofstock team is going to acquire some homes, then both sides will collectively look for buyers for their homes, and gradually increase,” said Matthew Liu, co-founder of Origin Protocol.

Rootstock charges a 2.5% brokerage fee and Origin Protocol charges 0.5% to facilitate transactions, where titles change hands using a single member limited liability company as the vehicle. The NFTs represent ownership interests in these LLCs, and transfers using the blockchain are legally enforceable, according to a press release issued by the two companies.

The venture marks a new direction for Origin Protocol, which has previously sold autobiographical NFTs from celebrity investor Paris Hilton and viral videos using blockchain technology. Liu said he welcomes the change of pace given the company’s goal of being a broad Web3 marketplace for a variety of vertical industries.

Real estate is “a massive market that can be disrupted,” Liu said.

“There are a lot of inefficiencies and technology is well positioned to tackle this vertical,” he said. “We expect to do a lot more real estate over time.”

If the platform succeeds in that goal, it could demonstrate that “this world of crypto/Web3/blockchain technology is not this niche thing that people speculate about and only the geeky weirdos talk about,” Liu said.

Potential for Web3 technologies to increase mortgage lending also still possible in the market at large, he said.

The current partnership is open to financing, but currently lacks a mortgage component. Loans secured by cryptocurrency assets can be used. These loans are usually over-collateralized to meet the volatility of valuations.

Liu called this, “slightly disruptive to mortgages.”

Some lenders have offered cryptocurrency mortgage products or payments, but interest has been inconsistent at times. United Wholesale Mortgage Announced a cryptocurrency loan plan in August 2021, but in October of the same year it had it dropped the idea.