Why everyone’s talking about RWAs — and what’s coming next

The Spaces convened BlockSquare’s first AMA of 2026 to examine what’s working in real‑world asset (RWA) tokenization, with a focus on real estate. Host Mark introduced Dennis (BlockSquare), Jens (Land Hive), Pascal (Portio/Porto), and Artem (RWA Estate). Dennis outlined the toughest hurdles—technical evolution, legal structuring, and building investable products with protections—while clarifying BlockSquare’s emphasis on transferring economic rights versus full ownership/securitization models. Jens contrasted durable, rent‑backed real estate yields (typically 7–9%+) with reflexive DeFi yields that have compressed, setting realistic liquidity and long‑term expectations. Pascal showed why co‑living/student housing fits tokenization: community alignment, fractional co‑ownership for tenants, better retention and asset care, and potential “rent‑to‑own” revenue‑share models. Jens and Pascal explained choosing BlockSquare for speed‑to‑market, compliance, and composability (e.g., Ocean Point staking). Artem gave practical due‑diligence checks for comparing deals: platform regulation, legal rights tokenized, and return realism. Roadmaps: BlockSquare is launching a referral/affiliate fee‑sharing system; Land Hive will deepen liquidity and transparency while building investor trust; Portio will expand projects, pilot rent‑to‑own, and airdrop free property tokens; RWA Estate will scale globally and add ratings/reviews. The session closed on RWAs as an infrastructure‑ and trust‑led execution story for 2026.

Blocksquare AMA: What’s Working, Misunderstood, and Next in Real-World Asset (RWA) Real Estate

Participants and Roles

• Mark (Host, Blocksquare AMA moderator)
• Dennis (CEO & Co‑founder, Blocksquare)
• Jens (Founder & CEO, Land Hive; marketplace operator on Blocksquare)
• Pascal (Founder & CEO, Portio; marketplace focused on co‑living; Luxembourg securitization vehicle)
• Artem (Founder & CEO, RWA Estate; aggregator listing tokenized properties across platforms)

Context and Theme

• Tokenization of real‑world assets (RWAs) has moved from concept to production, with real estate emerging as a leading use case.
• The session focuses on: what’s actually working, what’s misunderstood by crypto and tradfi communities, and what’s coming next over the next year.
• Multiple speakers operate on Blocksquare’s infrastructure: Land Hive and Portio (marketplaces), plus RWA Estate (aggregator) listing properties from OceanPoint and other platforms.

What’s hard about bringing real estate on‑chain and what’s misunderstood (Dennis)

• Multi‑disciplinary complexity: meaningful tokenization requires synchronized advances in technology, legal/compliance, and financial structuring.
  • Technology: the stack has matured significantly since 2016–2017 and continues to improve; modern infra enables compliant issuance, trading, and operations.
  • Legal/compliance: clear frameworks are vital for transferring value of single assets on‑chain. Two main approaches:
    • Economic rights transfer (Blocksquare’s primary model): tokens represent rights to economic benefits derived from ownership (e.g., rental income), not full legal title.
    • Securitization (e.g., Luxembourg vehicles used by Portio): tokens represent securities (equity/debt) linked to an SPV/issuer structure.
  • Financial product design: investor protection and real‑world enforceability are non‑negotiable; design must hold up when things go wrong.
• Biggest non‑technical challenge: uncertainty about future relevance (early years) and persistent misunderstandings across communities.
  • Crypto misconceptions: fear that real estate tokens will inherit crypto volatility; confusion with emission‑driven yields; underestimation of legal/operational components.
  • Tradfi/real estate skepticism: conflating tokenization with speculative crypto trading; concern that listing against volatile crypto pairs makes the underlying volatile.
• Education and partnership: hosting events/Spaces, and encouraging firms to partner rather than build from scratch. Building in‑house often proves inefficient relative to leveraging specialized infra and accumulated know‑how.
• Macro shift in yield landscape: DeFi stablecoin yields have compressed (now 2–2.5% on leading money markets like Aave vs double‑digit in prior cycles). This raises the relative attractiveness of real estate yields (6–9%, occasionally 10–12% when properly structured), especially when coupled with potential appreciation. RWA real estate is increasingly relevant to DeFi participants.

Real estate yield vs DeFi yield—expectations and liquidity (Jens)

• Source of yield:
  • Real estate (Land Hive): yields come from rent paid by real tenants and businesses; independent of token emissions and reflexive liquidity loops. Designed to be durable (monthly cash flows), not flashy—often in the 7–9% range for Land Hive’s short‑term rental properties in prime locations.
  • DeFi (in prior cycles): often reliant on reflexive mechanisms, leverage loops, token incentives; highly sensitive to price, liquidity, and sentiment.
• Liquidity reality:
  • Tokenization improves access, transparency, and tradability via infrastructure (Blocksquare’s plumbing: tokens, compliance rails, venue), but does not make property a day‑trading instrument. It enables better, not infinite, liquidity.
• Investor guidance:
  • Set expectations around long‑term ownership, steady real cash flow, and capital durability—not chasing highest APY.
  • Simple framing: DeFi yield depends on what the market believes tomorrow; real asset yield depends on rent being paid today.
• Role of infrastructure and composability:
  • Land Hive converts robust infra into investable products people can trust—bringing recurring income on‑chain transparently and in a composable way (e.g., staking options) built to last.

Why co‑living is a strong fit for tokenization and how relationships change (Pascal)

• What co‑living/shared living is:
  • A mix of private spaces (e.g., bedrooms) and shared amenities (lounges, kitchens, coworking, gyms, entertainment).
  • Demographic/product drivers: digital nomads, post‑COVID preferences, institutional capital entering; sub‑niches (seniors, single moms, women‑only); community‑centric living with shared purpose.
• Why tokenization aligns:
  • Fractional ownership lowers entry barriers; enables residents to evolve from renters to co‑owners (economically and, in certain structures, legally).
  • Aligns stakeholders (investors, operators, residents) toward shared goals; strengthens community.
• Measurable benefits for operators/investors:
  • Higher tenant retention and loyalty, lower churn and acquisition costs; tenants treat assets with greater care when they’re co‑owners.
• Use cases and segments:
  • Strong fit for ages 25–35 (young graduates, early‑career professionals, freelancers, entrepreneurs) and student housing.
  • Emerging model: rent‑to‑own structures that convert rent into revenue/profit share—promising for student housing and early‑career cohorts.
• Portio’s positioning:
  • Co‑living focus from day one; issuance via Luxembourg securitization vehicle; European focus with potential Middle East expansion. Among the first marketplaces launched atop Blocksquare; two years of learnings.

Build vs. partner: Why Land Hive and Portio chose Blocksquare

• Portio (Pascal):
  • Strategic focus on niche, deal origination, and scalable/legal structuring rather than building tech. Chose an existing, robust white‑label marketplace stack to accelerate time‑to‑market and validate product‑market fit.
  • Differentiator: beyond tech, Blocksquare provides legal templates/models, compliance rails, liquidity primitives (e.g., OceanPoint staking), and an investor/community network to tap into.
• Land Hive (Jens):
  • Initial UK securities path (fractionalizing apartment equity) proved compliance‑heavy and investor‑count‑limited.
  • Blocksquare’s economic‑rights model was a game‑changer: sell economic benefits of the asset without disposing of full ownership, enabling property owners to raise capital while retaining assets—key when they expect future appreciation.
  • Legal safeguard: a “legal lock” mechanism compelling issuers to redeem tokens at par before asset sale—adds investor protection and aligns incentives.
  • Composability: ability to offer staking via OceanPoint increases attractiveness versus pure DeFi plays.

How to compare tokenized real estate deals and avoid common mistakes (Artem)

• RWA Estate aggregates 200+ tokenized properties globally, helping investors compare across platforms.
• Three essential checks for beginners:
  1. Regulation/compliance: verify the platform’s regulatory status and licenses; cross‑check on the regulator’s website. Regulated platforms provide stronger protections.
  2. Legal structure: understand exactly what the token represents—economic rights to profits/rent, property rights, or other claims. Review the issuer’s documentation (prospectus/whitepaper/terms). RWA Estate centralizes such docs per listing.
  3. Return realism: decompose returns into appreciation and rental income; compare with traditional real‑estate benchmarks for the asset type/market. Tokenization doesn’t magically add 10–20% to underlying economics. Be wary of marketing‑driven ROI inflation.
• Global reach and transparency:
  • Listings span multiple regions (including Europe and the Caribbean, e.g., OceanPoint marketplace properties). Recent product additions include ratings and reviews so investors can validate whether realized yields match projections.

Roadmaps and What’s Next

• Blocksquare (Dennis):
  • Upcoming referral/affiliate system (initially for OceanPoint; extensible to partner marketplaces and aggregators):
    • 100% of marketplace trading fee for the first 3 months on each referred user.
    • 50% for the subsequent 12 months.
    • 25% in perpetuity thereafter.
  • Goal: simplify and gamify customer acquisition, share economics with referrers, and accelerate marketplace adoption across the ecosystem.
• Land Hive (Jens):
  • Strategy: go deeper, not just broader—scale income‑generating properties and strengthen how tokens can be used.
  • Priorities: expand listings; enhance secondary liquidity, staking, and on‑chain transparency; build a broader, trusting investor community; consistently deliver monthly rental cash flows to prove the model. Sees 2026 as pivotal for sector adoption.
• Portio (Pascal):
  • Pipeline: add 3–5 new projects this year (primarily Europe, potential Middle East).
  • Investor growth: leverage Blocksquare’s referral system; expand investor base.
  • Product innovation: advance a rent‑to‑own model converting rent into revenue share; legal work well underway; targeted deployment later this year for select use cases.
  • Community incentives: airdrops planned; AMA‑special free property token airdrop for upcoming co‑living listings (registration link to be shared via socials/Blocksquare’s X account).
• RWA Estate (Artem):
  • Expansion: target coverage of ~50 countries by year‑end; onboard more partners and listings to make discovery truly global.
  • Product depth: enrich listing data, add more decision‑support; recently launched ratings/reviews so investors can assess realized vs promised yields.

Highlights and Takeaways

• Real estate is emerging as a cornerstone RWA vertical on‑chain due to durable, rent‑anchored yields and the compression of DeFi baseline yields.
• Tokenization is not about turning property into a meme asset; it’s about better liquidity, access, and composability within regulatory and legal frameworks.
• Two dominant legal models are succeeding in parallel: economic‑rights tokens (Blocksquare’s core model) and securitizations (e.g., Luxembourg vehicles). Choice is driven by issuer goals, regulatory constraints, and investor reach.
• Co‑living is especially tokenization‑friendly: it aligns incentives among tenants, operators, and investors, improves retention, and can evolve into rent‑to‑own and revenue‑share schemes for key demographics (students, young professionals, entrepreneurs).
• Build vs. partner: specialized infrastructure, templates, and networks can materially reduce time‑to‑market and compliance risk versus building from scratch.
• Due diligence for newcomers should prioritize regulation, legal rights, and economic realism—aggregators like RWA Estate help investors compare like‑for‑like across marketplaces.

Action Items and Offers Mentioned

• Follow the speakers and marketplaces on X/LinkedIn (Blocksquare, Land Hive, Portio, RWA Estate; OceanPoint marketplace).
• Portio AMA special: upcoming free property token airdrop for new co‑living listings (registration link to be posted on Blocksquare’s X along with the recording).
• Watch for Blocksquare’s new referral/affiliate system launch on OceanPoint and partner marketplaces.
• Blocksquare AMAs planned twice monthly; expect more ecosystem updates, giveaways, and sector insights.