Berlin Tries the Next Block: a 10 Million Euro Office Sold as Tokens
Khushi V Rangdhol Jul 15, 2025 03:12
Berlin has executed the EU's first MiCA-compliant property sale using blockchain, selling a €10 million office via 100,000 ERC-3643 tokens. This marks a significant step in tokenization, leveraging Germany's Electronic Securities Act for full ownership transfer on-chain. While not the largest sale, it paves the way for future transactions and demonstrates regulatory progress in Europe. As the market matures, it may open doors for more substantial tokenized real estate investments.
Berlin has just pulled off what promoters are calling the European Union’s first MiCA‑ready property sale on a public blockchain. A mid‑century, 4‑storey office block in Kreuzberg has changed hands for €10 million— not via the usual notary‑and‑paper deed, but through 100,000 ERC‑3643 “property tokens” issued by Black Manta Capital Partners and settled on 21X’s fresh‑minted, BaFin‑licensed DLT exchange. Whether you call it a sale or a crowdfunded equity round (the legal wrapper is a Luxembourg SPV), the deal marks the first time Germany’s 2021 Electronic Securities Act (eWpG) has been used to transfer full beneficial ownership of a bricks‑and‑mortar asset entirely on‑chain.
Why This Isn’t Really the “First”
Headlines love a superlative, but fact‑checking matters. Europe’s pioneer sale was Paris’s AnnA Villa back in 2019, a €6.5 million mansion tokenised on Equisafe. Berlin has seen tokenised real‑estate stakes before, too: Black Manta sold €2.4 million of fractional tokens in a luxury project in 2024. The novelty this time is regulatory plumbing:
- eWpG crypto‑securities register – The buyer tokens are lodged in a BaFin‑supervised registry instead of a notarial deed.
- DLT Pilot Regime venue – Settlement happens on 21X, the first exchange authorised under the EU’s DLT Pilot Regime to handle both trading and delivery of tokenised securities.
- MiCA disclosure pack – The offering memorandum follows the EU’s new Markets‑in‑Crypto‑Assets (MiCA) disclosure template, a dress rehearsal for deals that want EU‑wide passporting from 2026.
Why Anyone Bought
- Yield in a rate plateau – The SPV promises a 5.4 % gross coupon, funded by a 10‑year triple‑net lease already in place.
- Liquidity story – Tokens can trade 24/7 once an aftermarket opens on 21X.
- Ticket size – Minimum subscription was €100; the sale cleared in four days, with 43 % of orders coming from retail wallets in Spain, Poland and the Baltics, according to the issuer.
Is €10 Million a Big Deal?
Not in property terms—Berlin’s average office block fetches far more. But for tokenisation it is a step up from the €2‑3 million micro‑deals common since 2020. Deloitte pegs global tokenised commercial real estate at maybe US $1.2 billion—orders of magnitude below the $10 billion now parked in tokenised Treasuries. Berlin’s deal is small, but it clears the MiCA and eWpG hurdles others must now jump.
Zooming Out
Berlin is already home to Europe’s only €100 million blockchain mortgage bond (Berlin Hyp’s Pfandbrief). State lender KfW put €10 million into that note this spring, signalling institutional comfort with Germany’s crypto‑securities law. If today’s office‑block sale trades smoothly on the secondary screen, brokers expect a pipeline of €25‑100 million assets—student housing, logistics sheds—within the year.
The bigger point: Europe now has a live, MiCA‑compliant path from concrete to wallet. For landlords, that could mean cheaper capital and global reach; for retail savers, a chance to own a slice of Tier‑1 real estate without a Tier‑1 pay‑packet. The technology was demo‑ready in 2019; Berlin’s €10 million is proof that the rulebook has finally caught up.
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