Democratizing Investing: The Power of Tokenization

The Interview ·
Featuring Stephane de Baets and Marc Cohodes

Published on: October 29th, 2020 • Duration: 61 minutes

Stephane de Baets has emerged as a pioneer in blockchain-based real estate investing by leading the development of the security token market. He is the founder and president of Elevated Returns, the international asset management firm which controls the iconic St. Regis Aspen Resort in Aspen, Colorado and other hospitality-centric commercial properties in the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia. De Baets explains to short-seller Marc Cohodes his efforts to tokenize his entire portfolio of real estate assets. He utilized the Tezos blockchain to tokenize the St. Regis Aspen Resort and partnered with tZERO, a distributed ledger platform and subsidiary of Overstock, to enable the trading of the AspenDigital token. He also discusses opportunities to tokenize restaurants and airlines and breaks down the difference between cryptocurrencies, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), and security and utility tokens. De Baets is also the founder and owner of Chefs Club, a restaurant group with a rotating residency of world-class chefs at its locations in Aspen, New York City, and Taipei. Filmed on October 26, 2020. Key Learnings: De Baets visualizes a future where every asset, whether a small business or property, can be tokenized and sold on the blockchain. He thinks there will be a massive transformation of capitalism in which consumer-funded businesses will lead the next wave where consumers become the major stakeholders of a business.