Galaxy Digital, led by Michael Novogratz, has recently tokenized a Stradivarius violin valued at $9 million to serve as collateral for a loan. The violin, crafted in 1708 and once owned by Russian Empress Catherine the Great, is considered a high-quality instrument made by the renowned Stradivari family.
The loan was provided to Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, who purchased the 316-year-old violin at an auction last year for over $9 million. Galaxy Digital will hold both the tokenized version of the instrument in the form of a nonfungible token (NFT) and the physical violin as collateral. The physical violin will be kept by a custodian in Hong Kong, with both parties needing to approve any removal.
While the exact terms and size of the loan were not disclosed, it was mentioned that it was “in the millions.” Galaxy Digital, known for its trading and investment banking division Galaxy Global Markets, aims to expand its client base by catering to individuals benefiting from the increasing wealth generated by the rising prices of cryptocurrencies.
In a related development, MANTRA Chain’s co-founder and CEO John Patrick Mullin discussed the potential and challenges of real-world-asset (RWA) tokenization in a recent interview. RWA tokenization involves bringing traditional assets into the digital economy, making them more efficiently tradable and manageable.
Mullin highlighted the tokenization of assets like U.S. treasuries on public blockchains as a popular trend, but also mentioned the potential for tokenizing real estate assets, which could revolutionize the trillion-dollar real estate market.
