According to recent research by Boston Consulting Group, the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) can reach $16T in the next 7 years, making it a catalyst for mainstream crypto adoption. We spoke about unveiling a new asset frontier with Nikola Sologub, co-founder of SRWA, a Decentralized Finance Technology Lab, focused on bringing RWA on-chain for improved accessibility, liquidity and speed.
How did you come up with the idea of SRWA?
Nikola Sologub: It came from a problem I faced when trying to move assets. Just an example: how much time is needed to get a business loan from a bank? It typically takes about two months, and in our case, the latest credit arrangement took four and a half months. As a tech savvy company with some of our capital being allocated in Bitcoin, one Sunday afternoon we decided to get a DeFi loan. We moved Bitcoin from cold storage to a hot wallet, bridged it to Ethereum, supplied it to a lending protocol, used it as collateral, borrowed stablecoins and did an offramp to our bank account. It took us an hour and a half! Now, imagine this solution being available to mainstream users, beyond a bunch of tech savvy nerds.
Four and a half months, against an hour and a half! It is simply the opportunity one can not easily ignore and we at SRWA are on a mission to make it available to everyone.
Yes, we have used some Bitcoin to achieve our goal (which the bank would not recognize on our balance sheet anyway). What if we could use other, more common assets, like issued invoices, or mortgage our office building? Why not? This is where RWA comes in handy.
Do you currently have competitors?
Nikola Sologub: Of course we are not alone. The technology supremacy is obvious. Rails are being built across the globe, with blue chip companies keeping eyes wide open to jump in and seize the opportunity. There are many studies on different RWA approaches and tokenized assets. The progress is being made in almost any asset class including real estate, precious metals, factoring, and perishable goods where we contribute as well.
Why did you decide to build on Radix?
Nikola Sologub: Our early work was back in 2017 when we did experiments with tokenized RWA. However, it was too early and the idea was back on the table in 2020 with the rise of DeFi and enablement of decentralized exchanges and lending. Suddenly new liquidity and utility emerged, with numerous strategies from liquidity providing, to arbitrage, flash loans, long and short positions through lending protocols, and yield farming.
Still, the whole approach is way too complicated for an everyday mainstream use. Keeping seed phrases and private keys secured, working with different blockchains, complicated transactions with unpredictable outcomes, numerous exploits and hacks, price volatility, uncertain regulation and compliance requirements. Those are making the adoption chasm impossible to bridge.
Step by step, the challenges are being solved, and the future now looks more bright. When it comes to the technology, over one year of exploration and due diligence of various protocols, we chose Radix as the primary technology stack. It simply addresses the need for major improvement in user experience, security, and scalability, while maintaining the decentralization and immutability premise. It is a gamechanger, as we are now able to deliver the seamless experience to our customers.
End customers should not care about the tech. They just need an application that works the way they used to. So we maximally mimic the traditional banking applications with checking accounts, transactions, exchange, savings accounts, interest accounts, loans, and transaction history. And we run a decentralized engine in the background to bring mentioned benefits of accessibility, speed, and cost efficiency.
Can you give an example of end users?
Nikola Sologub: We’ve teamed up with a community of farmers in New Zealand, so their preferred commodity is being tokenized on a 1-1 ratio while it sits in the warehouse waiting to be used. They have instant liquidity, and the asset can be put on savings and generate yield. Furthermore, it can be used as a collateral for a loan. On the other hand, the asset is exposed to the audience worldwide. Hence, investors can implement and exercise various strategies.
The relationship with the farming community is vital. RWA projects require a multidisciplinary approach, with technology being only a piece of the puzzle. It is important to have partners on the ground with deep understanding of existing business models, supply chain and regulatory environment. All willing to cooperate, solve challenges and collaboratively deliver viable solutions for everyone involved, and beyond.
The initial market in New Zealand where we aim for a proof of concept is estimated at $25B USD. While the project development is in progress, we are also exploring other markets. It is a well-regulated market which is a great test for our compliance capabilities. We aim to launch the product by the end of the year.
