RealT liquidates: $140M tokenized real estate venture collapses

RealT, the tokenized real estate platform that raised about $140 million by selling fractional ownership of Detroit rental properties through blockchain tokens, has entered voluntary liquidation. The wind-down is the largest failure in the tokenized real estate sector to date, leaving thousands of investors holding digital assets backed by properties the city of Detroit says were neglected, tax-delinquent, and blighted.

Co-founder Jean-Marc Jacobson disclosed the decision on July 2, citing insolvency pressures and conflicts with a court-appointed fiduciary. The escrow account set up to manage the sale of RealT's roughly 700 properties holds about $640,000. Split among an estimated 14,000 to 22,000 investors, that works out to roughly $45 per person against the $140 million raised. Jacobson said the plan is to sell all assets.

RealT let investors, many of them outside the U.S., buy blockchain-based tokens representing fractional shares of real rental properties. The platform's portfolio was concentrated in Detroit. For a sizable contingent of French investors, this looked like an easy on-ramp to U.S. property income without the headaches of owning a house in Michigan.