Japanese real estate firm GATES Inc. has shared plans to turn $75 million worth of Tokyo property into digital tokens. The project will use the Oasys blockchain and marks one of the biggest real estate tokenization plans in Japan so far.
The move is part of a larger plan. GATES hopes to eventually turn over $200 billion in property into tokens. That would make up about 1% of Japan’s total real estate market.
In the first phase, GATES will focus on income-generating properties in central Tokyo. The firm says the tokens will bring more people into the market and improve liquidity. It aims to reach $34 billion in liquidity over time.
The company will run the project through a special vehicle overseas. This will help it follow local legal rules and get all the needed licences. GATES CEO Yushi Sekino said the company has secured all the needed financial and real estate licences in Japan. He added that they are working closely with partners to follow every regulation.
According to Nasdaq, GATES made $145 million in revenue last year. It was listed on the Financial Times’ 2023 list of fast-growing firms in Asia-Pacific. The company is also preparing to list in the U.S. and is now doing a roadshow after filing an F-1 form for Nasdaq.
Its blockchain partner Oasys is known for gaming, but is now moving into real-world assets. Ryo Matsubara, who founded Oasys, said the team is “building a token economy that reinvests returns automatically to grow value.”
The partners said the same model could be used in other countries, including the U.S. and the Philippines as well as European countries. They also want to explore tokenizing other assets like anime and gaming rights.
The trend is growing fast. In Dubai, tokenized property deals have already reached $18 billion. In the U.S., states like New Jersey have started digitizing deeds worth hundreds of billions.
A report from Deloitte says the global market for tokenized real estate could grow from under $300 billion in 2024 to over $4 trillion by 2035.
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