NFTs and Digital Twins in the MetaVerse

At the Andaz West Hollywood Hotel this week, a team of First National Real Estate members from Australia heard from myself and Assaf Igell about the future of technology and impact on real estate. Here’s a brief summation of the round table held:

Real Estate 1.0  > The Information Revolution (1990s to 2000s) portals made it easier / faster to find and buy a new home – to democratize access to information.  Think Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Redfin, Apartments.com, RealEstate.com.au, Domain.com.au, etc. Pictures, maps, sold prices, neighborhood stats, etc. This was revolutionary because it democratized real estate knowledge.

Real Estate 2.0 > The Transaction Revolution (2015 to present). Streamlining and removing friction from the core “buy-sell” real estate transaction. The majority of the industry is still in this transaction revolution. The majority of home buyers and sellers could easily find homes online – but they were subjected to a complicated, costly, and slow transaction process. Opendoor.com and Offerpad.com  (started in 2015) are also working to speed up and clean up the selling process. 

Real Estate 3.0 > Transaction Revolution (2020 to 2030). Rise of web3 technologies – blockchains, NFTs, crypto, smart contracts, tokens and more. The idea to simplify bureaucracy of property buying / selling. Web3 is generally communicated as products and services that turn internet users into owners, thenReal Estate 3.0 will increase access to entirely new kinds of ownership ( Rent-to-own, Lease-to-own,  real estate as a digital financial asset to trade, co-ownership).

The MetaVerse > Assaf spoke about the metaverse ‘digital twin’ of a property that exists as physical asset. Imagine if Meta (aka Facebook) decided to create locations for ‘digital twins’ of property addresses in the metaverse. It isn’t that unrealistic right?

Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) > Assaf displayed the power of an NFT by showing one of the First National Real Estate members sporting an original one of a kind Batman Cowl NFT. The power of NFTs for branding, loyalty and collectibles is real and Hollywood Studios like DC Comics are showcasing this as an entree to the Web3 space with a sizeable NFT undertaking entitled The Bat Cowl.

The Bat Cowl collection, launched in April 2022, highlights unique headpieces that have been important facets of the superhero’s 83-year-old history. Bat Cowl NFTs presented collectors with the chance to both own a piece of Batman’s legacy as well join the Web3 iteration of DC Comics: DC Universe.

Watch the video below to see the amazing effects of the Bat Cowl NFT.