CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/416,076, filed October 14, 2022, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to distributed peer-to-peer ledgers and, more specifically, to secure transactions between parties via a blockchain in an open market.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

[0003] Traditional private equity funds are typically closed-end investment structures in which investment capital is raised during a limited offering window. Private investors have a narrow opportunity to join the fund, and once the offering window closes, no further investments into the fund may be made. The fund is commonly established as a limited partnership or limited liability company, with the investors being limited partners and a general partner making decisions for the fund. Once the fund is created, a management company allocates the capital and manages the investments for the life of the fund, which is also typically a fixed term.

[0004] However, traditional private equity funds are largely inaccessible to non-accredited or small investors due to the high transaction costs (including planning, structuring, forming, and monitoring) of private equity deals as well as the large amount of capital that is required to be invested to join the fund. Additionally, there is little liquidity for the investments made in a private equity fund, as the investment may be required to be kept in the fund for the duration of the fund term, and there may be no opportunity to transfer, divide, or otherwise divest an investor’s interest in the fund.

[0005] Furthermore, bonds are common debt instruments by which governments and corporations borrow money from investors. Bonds include terms provided by the borrower including interest payments that will be made (the coupon) and time at which the loaned funds will be returned (maturity date). However, the issuance of traditional bonds is slow and expensive, thereby limiting their access and transferability.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] A digital marketplace system of tokenized assets is provided. The system includes a service provider that acquires a real estate asset and issues debt tokens securing an interest in the real estate asset to form a decentralized secured asset. The system further includes a secondary market in which the debt tokens are stored on a public distributed digital transaction ledger in the form of a blockchain. The debt tokens are further purchased and sold via the secondary market by entities exclusively using encrypted digital transactions stored in a distributed public transaction ledger in the form of another blockchain. [0007] In specific embodiments, each debt token represents an interest in a smart contract that is an agreement secured by a security interest in real property or a right in real property. [0008] In specific embodiments, the encrypted digital transactions are in the form of a cryptocurrency.

[0009] In specific embodiments, each debt token represents a fractional interest in the decentralized secured asset.

[0010] In specific embodiments, the debt tokens are divisible.

[0011] In particular embodiments, the smart contract includes digital terms in the form of executable computer code, the digital terms including one or both of a coupon rate of the debt token and a maturity date of the debt token.

[0012] In specific embodiments, the debt tokens are individually issued to members of a crowd.

[0013] A system of trading tokenized assets is also provided. The system includes an automated distributed digital machine hosted by a plurality of hardware processors, employing a distributed consensus model, and being configured to execute immutable transactions recorded on a blockchain, the blockchain having blocks which are created in accordance with a competitive consensus process. The automated distributed digital machine generates debt tokens that represent an interest in a smart contract. The smart contract is a digital agreement secured by a security interest in real property or a right in real property, thereby forming a decentralized secured asset. The system also includes a user interface configured to allow members of a crowd to acquire the debt tokens directly from a service provider that holds the decentralized secured asset or to divest the debt tokens to third parties via the automated distributed digital machine. The user interface is further configured to allow the third parties to acquire and divest the debt tokens via the automated distributed digital machine.

[0014] In specific embodiments, each debt token is generated as a transaction of the automated distributed digital machine comprising a cryptographically-authenticated, distributed ledger having a database held and updated independently by each of a plurality of hardware processors, forming a consensus determination of transaction validity.

[0015] In specific embodiments, the debt tokens are acquired and divested with a single cryptocurrency comprising encrypted digital transactions stored in a distributed public transaction ledger in the form of another blockchain.

[0016] A method of tokenizing real property assets is also provided. The method includes defining an executable smart contract, representing an agreement, secured by a security interest in real property or a right in real property. The executable smart contract is executed on an automated distributed digital machine, hosted by a plurality of hardware processors, employing a competitive distributed consensus model which produces immutable blocks, and is configured to execute immutable transactions recorded on a blockchain comprising a series of the immutable blocks. The method further includes pledging the real property or right in real property as the security interest to secure the smart contract. The method further includes issuing a debt token representing an interest in the smart contract, and recording the issuance of the debt token on the blockchain. The method further includes allowing members of a crowd to acquire the debt tokens directly from a service provider that holds the real property or to divest the debt tokens to third parties via the automated distributed digital machine. The method further includes allowing the third parties to acquire and divest the debt tokens via the automated distributed digital machine. The debt tokens are acquired and divested using only a single cryptocurrency comprising encrypted digital transactions stored in a distributed public transaction ledger in the form of another blockchain.

[0017] In specific embodiments, each debt token represents a fractional interest in the real property.

[0018] In specific embodiments, the debt tokens are divisible.

[0019] In specific embodiments, the debt tokens are individually issued to members of a crowd.

[0020] In specific embodiments, the smart contract includes digital terms in the form of executable computer code. The digital terms include one or both of a coupon rate of the debt token and a maturity date of the debt token.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Various advantages and aspects of this disclosure may be understood in view of the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0022] Figure 1 is a flowchart illustrating debt token transactions via a service provider in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure; and

[0023] Figure 2 is a flowchart illustrating debt token transactions via a secondary market of the service provider.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0024] A system and method of managing (offering, servicing, trading, etc.) tokenized assets is provided herein. As will be understood from the description herein, the disclosed system and method provides a crowdfunding platform for the issuance and trading of digital bonds in the form of debt tokens that are backed by collateralized assets in the form of real estate or cashflows in the form of rent that is offered on an open digital marketplace run by blockchain. [0025] The system includes a service provider that acquires a real estate asset and issues debt tokens securing an interest in the real estate asset to form a decentralized secured asset. More particularly, the service provider raises capital for real estate investment by crowdfunding from a multiplicity of investors, which optionally may be a multiplicity of small investors (in terms of the monetary size of investment) that are members of a crowd, i.e. the investors may have no knowledge, prior relation to each other, or any other association aside from the fact that they are each investing in the same investment. For example, each investor may invest as little as $1 USD or an equivalent amount of another currency including fiat currencies or cryptocurrency. In exchange for the investment, the service provider issues a debt token to each investor. The debt tokens are secured by a real estate asset acquired by the provider and are linked to a smart contract that includes digital terms of the real estate agreement in the form of executable computer code. Smart contracts are computer programs that both express the contents of a contractual agreement and operate the implementation of the content, based on triggers provided by users of a smart contract or extracted from a blockchain environment, as described in more detail below. Within the context of blockchain, smart contracts are scripts stored on the blockchain. Since they reside on the chain, smart contracts have a unique address, and a smart contract is triggered by messages or transactions sent to its address. The digital terms of the smart contracts of embodiments of the present disclosure may include items such as a coupon rate of the debt token, interest payment intervals, a term or maturity date of the debt token, and principal value. The debt tokens that secure an interest in the real estate property thereby form a decentralized secured asset, whereby the real property asset is secured by a decentralized group of investors, and each debt token represents a fractional interest in the real estate property.

[0026] The debt tokens are generated, recorded, and maintained on a blockchain. A blockchain is a decentralized and distributed digital ledger that can record transactions between two or more parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. The ledger itself can also be programmed to trigger transactions automatically. A blockchain maintains a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, secured from tampering and revision. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to a previous block. By design, blockchains are inherently resistant to modification of the data; once recorded, the data in a block cannot be altered retroactively. Through the use of a peer-to-peer network and a distributed timestamping server, a blockchain database is managed autonomously. The decentralized consensus algorithm of blockchain technologies allows several entities to maintain a shared record of information without having to trust each other individually, since consensus is formed on a per-network basis. The networked model produces a system with the advantages of censorship resistance, tamper resistance, and a system with no single point of failure.

[0027] More specifically, the system includes an automated distributed digital machine hosted by a plurality of hardware processors. The processors employ a distributed consensus model, and are configured to execute immutable transactions recorded on a cryptographically- authenticated, public distributed digital transaction ledger in the form of a blockchain. A blockchain ledger is generally known in the art and can be used to store records of digital value, for example, transactions, identities, assets, documents, and properties, into an immutable ledger, or to add self-enforcing business logic to the ledger, such as smart contracts. In some embodiments, the blockchain ledger is permissionless, i.e., a public blockchain open for participation to anyone. In other embodiments, the blockchain ledger is permissioned, i.e., a private blockchain available only to a closed group of participants. The immutable transactions stored in the blockchain include the issuance, purchase, and sale of the debt tokens. The blockchain has blocks which are created in accordance with a competitive consensus process, which therefore assure the accuracy and security of the blocks. Each block corresponds to a debt token transaction.

[0028] The service provider operates a secondary market via the blockchain. The secondary market includes a user interface that provides an interface between the blockchain stored on a server computer and a user of a computing device. The user interface may be a graphical user interface (GUI) or a web user interface (WUI) and can display text, documents, web browser windows, user options, application interfaces, and instructions for operation, and include the information (such as graphic, text, and sound) that a program presents to a user and the control sequences the user employs to control the program. The user interface may also include a mobile application software that provides an interface between the blockchain and a user. Mobile application software, or an “app,” is a computer program designed to run on smart phones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. The server computer may be a standalone computing device, a management server, a web server, a mobile computing device, or any other electronic device or computing system capable of receiving, sending, and processing data. In some embodiments, the server computer can represent a server computing system utilizing multiple computers as a server system, such as in a cloud computing environment. In other embodiments, the server computer may be a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a netbook computer, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, or any programmable electronic device capable of communicating with other computing devices within a distributed data processing environment via network. In yet other embodiments, the server computer represents a computing system utilizing clustered computers and components (e.g., database server computers, application server computers, etc.) that act as a single pool of seamless resources when accessed within a distributed data processing environment.

[0029] The debt tokens are stored on the public distributed transaction ledger that is the blockchain so that the debt tokens may be subsequently sold or otherwise divested by the owners of the debt tokens. For example, a debt token may be sold to and purchased by a third party entity (e.g. another investor). Thus, the debt tokens are freely and easily transferable. Additionally, the blockchain allows a debt token to be fully divisible, whereby the debt token is split, with the owner keeping a portion of the value of the debt token and another party acquiring the other portion of the value. Each debt token may be split any number of times and in any increments. The secondary market may include a user interface operated and controlled by the service provider that allows for the purchase and sale of the debt tokens, either directly from the service provider during an initial offering of the debt tokens, or between owners of the debt tokens and third parties during subsequent trading of the debt tokens on the secondary market.

[0030] In some embodiments, the debt tokens are traded on the secondary market exclusively using encrypted digital transactions stored in a distributed public transaction ledger in the form of another blockchain, i.e. a cryptocurrency. More particularly, the transactions are financed exclusively using a single cryptocurrency that is established by the service provider. Thus, the value of this single cryptocurrency will be substantively tied to the growth and supply of the debt tokens, and backed by the assets secured by the debt tokens. Payment processors/platforms that allow for the purchase and sale of cryptocurrency may be used for purchasing of the single cryptocurrency used on the secondary market. Examples of payment processors/platforms include but are not limited to PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App. As such, the single cryptocurrency used in the secondary market may also be used via the payment processors to acquire other goods and services as well as to convert the funds into another currency, either fiat or crypto. Furthermore, holders of debt tokens may optionally convert their debt tokens into the single cryptocurrency by effectively selling the debt token back to the service provider at a discount, e.g. in the range of 5 to 10% off market price. The debt tokens sold back to the service provider may be held by the service provider or relisted on the secondary market for purchase by other third party investors. This conversion option increases the liquidity of the debt tokens by providing an instantaneous exit option as opposed to waiting for a specific trading partner.

[0031] Thus, in some embodiments of the system 10 shown in Figures 1 and 2, the service provider 12 offers and sells debt tokens 14 to a plurality of investors 16 using a currency 18 which may be a fiat currency such as USD or alternatively may be a cryptocurrency. The assets secured by the debt tokens 14 constituted a plurality of decentralized secured assets 20 including assets 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, 20e. The debt tokens 14 are recorded and transferred on a blockchain that is part of a (secondary) marketplace 22 operated by the service provider 12. As shown particularly in Figure 2, third party investors 24, i.e. those investors that did not purchase the debt token involved in the transaction, may purchase portions of and/or an entire debt token 14 via the marketplace 22 using a specific cryptocurrency 26 that is operated by the service provider 12 and can be obtained by currency conversion using a payment processor 28 that is independent from the service provider 12. The sale and/or splitting of the debt tokens 14 via transactions between the investors 16 and/or third parties 24 results in subsequent debt tokens 15 which are also recorded on the blockchain of the marketplace 22. [0032] In one example, the service provider may obtain a piece of commercial real estate, particularly a professional office building. In this case, the professional building has seven active tenants in the medical field with multiple years remaining on their leases. The leases are triple net with the tenants paying a portion of the utilities, property taxes, and insurance based on their percentage of occupied space in the building. The acquisition price for the property is $949,000, and the monthly rents from the tenants total $10,877.91 for a yearly projected net operating income (NOI) of $130,534.96. 80% of the purchase price of the property are financed by a mortgage from a financial institution, with the other 20% obtained by bond financing via the sale of debt tokens. Each debt token has a term of 5 years, annual coupon payments on December 31 of each calendar year at a coupon rate of 10%. These terms are included in the smart contract that is embedded in the debt token. The minimum buy in to purchase a debt token is $100. Each debt token is fully backed by the real estate property and is subordinate only to the bank mortgage. Once the debt tokens are issued by the service provider and directly sold to investors, such as individual investors from a public crowd, the real estate property becomes a decentralized secured asset, as it is an asset that is secured from a decentralized group of investors. The debt tokens are stored via blockchain, which may be a public blockchain operated by a third party provider, a public blockchain operated by the service provider, or a private blockchain operated by the service provider. Subsequently, the holders of the debt tokens may sell, in whole or in any number of parts, their debt tokens to other third parties via the secondary market interface platform operated by the service provider. These debt token transactions made on the secondary market are recorded on the same blockchain as the initial issuance of the debt tokens. Further, as discussed above, all transactions made on the service provider’s secondary market must be made with a specific cryptocurrency, in this case a cryptocurrency operated by the service provider. Thus, for example, a third party may purchase the specific cryptocurrency from any of a number of payment processors that offer the conversion of US dollars to various cryptocurrencies. Once the third party has sufficient funds in the specific cryptocurrency, that third party may purchase a debt token from a debt token holder that has listed it’s holding for sale on the secondary market. The seller of the debt token receives the specific cryptocurrency in exchange for the sale of the debt token, and may use that value of the specific cryptocurrency to purchase other goods or services, or may use a payment processor to convert those funds back to a fiat currency such as US dollars.

Definitions

[0033] I n order to provide a clear and consistent understanding of the specification and claims, the following definitions are provided.

[0034] “Debt tokens” are decentralized tokens issued on a blockchain platform that are a store of value, or a medium of exchange.

[0035] The term “smart contract” refers to computer code that, upon the occurrence of specified condition(s), are automatically executed and enforceable using computer technology.

[0036] The term “blockchain” refers to a type of distributed ledger technology including a growing list of records, each record being a block in the chain, that are securely linked together using cryptography and used to record transactions so that any block cannot be altered retroactively, without the alteration of subsequent blocks.

[0037] The term “cryptocurrency” refers to a digital currency that uses cryptography to record and secure transactions using a decentralized network of computers that run a blockchain.

[0038] The term “distributed” means a computer system that includes multiple, physically distinct devices that operate together as a single computer system.

[0039] The invention has been described in an illustrative manner, and it is to be understood that the terminology which has been used is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation. Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. The invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.