Hong Kong seminar focuses on STO landscapes in HK, Singapore and Sri Lanka
The University of Hong Kong (HKU)’S Asian Institute of International Financial Law (AIIFL) hosted a lunchtime seminar on the rise of security token offering (STO) and an increasing global interest in real estate tokenisation.
Fintech Association of Sri Lanka (FASL) President and Ambuli International (a consultancy firm focusing on the applications of Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in the financial and other sectors) Founder and CEO Rajkumar Kanagasingam did the presentation while HKU’S Kerry Holdings Professor in Law Douglas Arner presided the seminar.
STO landscapes of Hong Kong, Singapore and Sri Lanka and the opportunities and challenges in digitising real estate investment in the region were discussed at the seminar. Real estate tokenisation would lower investor barriers by increasing the liquidity of real estate assets. It would also have the security and immutability of a Blockchain-based token.
In Hong Kong, real estate development projects are so expensive that it is almost impossible for smaller players to enter into the market. Unlike the US, it may be difficult to crowdfund real estate tokenisation projects in Hong Kong. Perhaps more opportunities lie in developing real estate projects in other countries in the region -- by digitising the process and attracting overseas players to invest in technologies.
For Sri Lanka, one consideration would be how one could use the STO structure to support investment from overseas investors in the local real estate projects.