Crowdfunding firm Indiegogo is promoting the St. Regis Aspen hotel share sale. The hotel reportedly wants to raise $18 million via a tokenized security offering. This will be Indiegogo’s second foray into the cryptocurrency space after an ICO promotion in 2017.
Aspen Coins
According to The Verge, St. Regis Aspen hotel is set to raise $18 million by selling Aspen Coins–a tokenized security that represents a share in the hotel. Investors looking to participate in the sale need only go through a licensed broker-dealer. The tokenized security sale will accept investments made via U.S. dollars, Bitcoin, or Ether.
The crowdfunding platform is promoting the real estate scheme on its website. Commenting on the plan, Indiegogo Co-Founder Slava Rubin said:
“In my opinion, cryptocurrency and security-backed tokens are two very different things. Hard assets are less speculative, and they’re likely to pan out in the future.”
Not Indiegogo’s First Cryptocurrency Rodeo
The Aspen hotel deal isn’t Indiegogo’s first venture into the cryptocurrency space. In December 2017, the San Francisco-based company promoted a cryptocurrency ICO in partnership with MicroVentures–an equity crowdfunding platform.
According to Rubin, the ICO “went well”, as the partnership with MicroVentures ensured that the offering was SEC-compliant. MicroVentures is a registered broker-dealer licensed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
The Indiegogo co-founder also revealed that the company actively evaluates the merits of offerings from various companies and that only a few of them pass the rigorous vetting process of the platform’s “diligence team”.
For Rubin, the goal is for Indiegogo and its counterpart companies to devise more comprehensive investment protocols. The idea is to make these crowdfunding campaigns accessible to the general public (as with ICOs), not only to accredited investors.
Tokenized Securities
Tokenized securities are becoming a more serious proposition at the intersection of cryptocurrency and corporate fundraising. SEC scrutiny into the ICO scene as well as the poor performance of ICO tokens in the market seems to have initiated a shift towards asset-backed coins (tokenized securities).
In March 2018, CNBC reported that a foreign corporation was considering a multimillion-dollar ICO to raise funds for the purchase of New York City’s Plaza Hotel. By the following month, however, the deal appeared to have failed.
Unhashed.com is author of this content, TheBitcoinNews.com is is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Our Social Networks: Facebook Instagram Pinterest Reddit Telegram Twitter Youtube
