Blockchain Coming to a Block Near You: How Fintech Is Changing Real Estate Investing

Forthcoming in N.Y. REAL PROPERTY LAW JOURNAL

15 Pages Posted: 27 Jan 2023

See all articles by Joseph Bizub

Joseph Bizub

Brooklyn Law School

Justin Peralta

IBM Corporation

David J. Reiss

Cornell University - Law School; Cornell University - Cornell Tech NYC

Date Written: January 26, 2023

Abstract

Until recently, real estate with a small footprint – one-to-four-family homes as well as small retail, office, and industrial buildings – were generally within the purview of small investors who invested locally. Today, because of technological advances, these owner-occupants and investors face competition from an emerging class of decentralized finance (DeFi) investors. Fintech companies are presenting DeFi investors with new approaches to the challenges that real estate investing traditionally poses: illiquidity, high capital requirements, lack of diversification, and opaque markets. This article focuses on how fintech companies are meeting those challenges and suggests that while much of their vaunted innovation is simply old wine in new bottles, there is good reason to think that they will be driving a lot of investment in small real estate transactions in the future, in no small part because people like shiny new bottles.

Keywords: real estate, fintech, blockchain, real estate investing, real estate finance, accredited investors, NFTs, Non-Fungible Tokens

JEL Classification: K11, K22, R30

Suggested Citation

Bizub, Joseph and Peralta, Justin and Reiss, David J., Blockchain Coming to a Block Near You: How Fintech Is Changing Real Estate Investing (January 26, 2023). Forthcoming in N.Y. REAL PROPERTY LAW JOURNAL, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4338096

Joseph Bizub

Brooklyn Law School ( email )

Justin Peralta

IBM Corporation ( email )

David J. Reiss (Contact Author)

Cornell University - Law School ( email )

Myron Taylor Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-4901
United States

Cornell University - Cornell Tech NYC ( email )

2 West Loop Rd.
New York, NY 10044
United States
7187910524 (Phone)

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