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Since Barry DiRaimondo launched SteelWave, the company has acquired, designed, developed, entitled, or managed over 61 million square feet of industrial product and over 51 million square feet of office product.

It has also has eight million square feet of life science research and development facilities — at a combined cost nearing $18 billion.

To address the changing nature of the real estate investment market in 2024, Barry entered into brainstorming sessions with his son, cryptocurrency pioneer Mitch DiRaimondo.

The younger DiRaimondo had recognized that commercial real estate could be used to back digital investments and bridge tangible assets with real cash flow into the digital 3.0 ecosystem.

This epiphany led SteelWave to start up SteelWave Digital, through which global investors have the option to convert their traditional ownership positions in America high-end real estate into digital securities that can be traded on an exchange.

Recently, SteelWave Digital incorporated in crypto-friendly Bermuda and began to craft strategies to bring digital assets into the commercial real estate marketplace.

The launch this month of the pioneering Digital Tokenization Fund marks the organization's most ambitious effort to date to stay competitive in the fast-changing real estate market.

The $500 million digital fund, chartered through SteelWave Digital, provides world-class real estate micro-investment opportunities to a new generation of clients via tokenization.

While the announcement was made during simultaneous cryptocurrency and digital asset summits in London, San Francisco and Miami, the fund will focus on the U.S. office sector, opting for the strategic announcement strategy to capitalize on the growing demand for digital asset fund structures.

Barry DiRaimondo explained, "At SteelWave, we’re looking beyond traditional investment models to create new opportunities for our investors.

"Our decision to launch this fund with digital tokenization features underscores our dedication to innovation and confidence in the future of digital assets."

The SteelWave system provides lower fees, easier entry and exit (and thus liquidity) than New York-centered real estate investment trusts, with none of the inherent biases from those stodgy old institutions that DiRaimondo says are not serving the commercial real estate industry well.

The new fund was created to leverage equity over a broader universe by making shares smaller and even more easily liquidated, without having to rely on steep discounts for quick liquidation.

This new digital tokenization fund will enable SteelWave to democratize its investment opportunities and allow a broader range of investors to participate in the potential growth of the commercial real estate market.

This approach both aligns with evolving investor preferences and anticipates the development of a robust secondary trading market for digital securities.

There is movement afoot in the U.S. to modernize or replace existing tax, entity, and structuring laws so that owners of digital assets in real estate can seamlessly trade their stakes in an environment devoid of traditional barriers.

SteelWave anticipates its innovative blend of traditional real estate investment and digital tokenization opportunities will resonate strongly with investors.

They further forecast that broadening the investor base will also help drive the needed legal and regulatory structure changes to the finish line.

The alternative would be devastating to the U.S. economy, facing presently high interest rates, empty office buildings, and concerns over the nation’s long-term economic health.

SteelWave, however, through its strategic focus on U.S. tech and live science properties, is banking on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revitalize downtown districts and workspaces across the nation.

As Mitch DiRaimondo put it, "Out Digital Tokenization Fund allows those who share our vision to invest with the knowledge that their tokens are tied to real-world assets."

Democratizing commercial real estate investment both broadens the universe of those with a vested interest in maintaining the values of these properties and the availability of capital for further investment.

They anticipate that their innovative blend of traditional real estate investment and digital tokenization opportunities will resonate strongly with this new investor class.

It is, of course, success that breeds copycats.

And while the SteelWave fund may be the first of its kind to begin reshaping the future of commercial real estate development, the true measure of the success of this innovative merger of real property with digital tokens will be revealed as others follow suit.

Duggan Flanakin is a senior policy analyst at the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, who writes on a wide variety of public policy issues.