When Markets Collide

With interest rates increasing, we might expect to see a slow-down in the housing market similar to that which NFTs experienced, but companies like Roofstock onChain must not have gotten the memo. They just sold a 3-bedroom South Carolina house as an NFT for $175,000.

• The investor, Adam Slipakoff, purchased the property with just one click, paying the balance in USDC.
• Each potential buyer must register with the company before shopping on their NFT marketplace. Upon registration, they receive a non-transferrable membership token, marking them as a verified buyer.
• Once verified, buyers can connect to the NFT marketplace and purchase a ‘Home onChain NFT’ with a single click.
• On the backend, each property listed on the platform is an NFT owned by an individual single-purpose Limited Liability Company (LLC). The NFT sold is associated with sole ownership of the LLC.

The housing market could be ready to wind down for conventional buyers, but this innovative company is carving out its own niche in an enormous market. Some critics have claimed the process behind the scenes is too complicated, but they did manage to sell a title-insured, rent-ready property as an NFT, settling the transaction in crypto.

Furthermore, the landmark sale illustrates a broader application for non-fungible digital assets. NFTs can be used to validate ownership of physical assets like property, but it’s only a scratch on the surface. Diplomas, medical records, tax filings… virtually any mechanism requiring proof of authenticity is just waiting its turn to bolster the ever-strengthening use case of non-fungible tokens.