Though it can be a profitable source of income, investing in real estate has always been complicated and expensive. EstateX’s fractional ownership platform seeks to disrupt that narrative and transform real estate investments into passive income accessible to everyone.
EstateX: Disrupting the status quo
EstateX is a fractional real estate ownership platform that opened its digital doors in April of 2023. It utilizes non-fungible security tokens to stand for the investments so that you can “diversify your portfolio with the confidence of blockchain technology,” co-founder Bart de Bruijn says.
While EstateX’s main goal is to help regular people gain access to the passive income investments provide, the platform also strives to disrupt the real estate and banking industries. To accomplish this goal, the company has had to jump through a number of regulatory hoops.
“It has to be legally compliant worldwide,” de Bruijn says. “Lots of companies are launching ICOs, but they’re not actually worrying about what the business is going to be doing in the months and years to come.”
That’s not the case with EstateX, which has focused on building a robust legal framework, getting the right partners in place, and forming a platform that can sustain the level of activity they expect.
Best of all, the founders state that it has an intuitive interface, which you can use similarly to online shopping, essentially allowing you to add a fraction of a property to your “cart.”
After purchasing, you would sign a digital deed and be set with your first investment property. It’s as simple as that. “We also pay rental income daily instead of monthly,” says de Bruijn, “so can you see how it’s appealing to an everyday person?”
Catering to everyday people
EstateX offers the chance for everyday people to get a leg up. The founders recognized the impact of the stagnating wages and tumultuous inflation that many people are currently struggling with.
“The average individual at the moment isn’t even able to enter the property market,” de Bruijn says. “Let alone invest in it, this has never happened before, so there needs to be a change. There needs to be a solution. EstateX is that solution.”
EstateX allows you to enter the property market with as little as $100. You have access to multiple passive income streams in the form of rent and capital gains as a result of properties increasing in value.
To manage this, EstateX relies on an equity model, meaning a person can invest $100 into the property’s equity and have ownership of that property.
“We put the ownership of a property in a special purpose vehicle, and then we tokenize the shares.”
One of the many ways the company manages to disrupt the status quo is by offering EstateX Pay, which involves a partnership with a tier-one card provider and allows people to pay for everyday goods using their real estate.
EstateX Pay lets you attach your digital property portfolio to your card and offers fast liquidation.
Real estate is one of the oldest and most secure forms of investing, but it’s tough to make profits liquid in the current system. You’d have to rely on banks and have the right credit history. With EstateX, you have instant access to what is essentially yours.
EstateX Pay also allows you to get instant loans. You don’t have to go through the banking system or worry about your credit rating.
Empowering people with financial literacy
The team at EstateX sees the business as a “company built by the people, for the people.” Their goal is not to make money off the backs of people getting into debt but, instead, to increase passive income and start building generational wealth. They do this by offering educational modules you can access.
EstateX provides the opportunity for the average person to gain the financial literacy they need. Although there will be some subscription options, most of these services will be free, so there’s no barrier to improving how you think about your investments.
The beginning of a new real estate investment era
EstateX has already made news by winning the Best Real World Assets Project at the India Blockchain Awards in 2023. They have managed to raise over three million dollars from retail investors, and there’s a significant buzz about what EstateX can offer when it truly gets on its way.
“Doesn’t matter who you are, your background, your history, your credit rating, EstateX is making investing in real estate simple or affordable and accessible for anyone anywhere,” says de Bruijn.
