Dubai’s tokenised villa sold in five minutes. Easy Crypto’s Paul Quickenden warns New Zealand could unlock $60B but risks falling behind Singapore.
What’s happening: Real estate tokenisation is enabling fractional property ownership globally, with Dubai selling a tokenised villa in five minutes and major economies racing to establish regulatory frameworks.
Why this matters: New Zealand could unlock over $60 billion in new property transaction volume if just 2-3% of its market adopts tokenisation, but regulatory clarity is needed to compete with Singapore and Hong Kong.
Paul Quickenden, Chief Commercial Officer at Easy Crypto (powered by Swyftx), believes New Zealanders have increasingly been told the same story over the past five years with escalating insistence: property is out of reach, the ladder is being pulled up and ownership is a dream slipping further away. But what if there was a mechanism that could flip that script entirely?
Earlier this year in Dubai, a tokenised villa sold out in under five minutes. Not five days, five minutes. Now imagine if that was possible here in Aotearoa: owning a slice of premium commercial property without millions upfront, without waiting decades to cash out and without battling through the traditional real estate grind.
That’s what real estate tokenisation offers: fractional ownership recorded on the blockchain which enables everyday investors to buy into assets that have long been the domain of the ultra-wealthy. The technology exists now, but the question is whether regulation will keep pace.
This isn’t just about property. The same blockchain foundations that make tokenisation possible sit at the heart of a broader shift to Web3 infrastructure and decentralised finance globally. Around the world, crypto and Web3 regulation is moving from the margins to the mainstream with many governments racing to set the rules that will shape adoption for decades.
Global trends gathering pace
Globally, the pace of change is accelerating and in just two years, the US has pivoted from being a crypto naysayer to leading key parts of the conversation. Their landmark moves like the Genius Act, which sets a legal framework for tokenising real-world assets, and the Clarity Act, which defines how digital assets are treated under securities law, are clearing the way for tokenisation at scale.
In Europe, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation has set a single, harmonised standard for issuing, offering and providing services around crypto-assets including stablecoins, asset-referenced tokens and other digital assets across all 27 EU member states. Meanwhile the Financial Action Task Force is pushing hard for alignment on anti-financial crime and consumer safety.
Australia has also been working to strengthen its position in digital payments and regulation, with the RBA helping Australia lead in the payments space through digital transformation initiatives.
Institutional participation is following this clarity and hedge funds, asset managers and banks are stepping into regulated crypto markets, with 2025 already delivering notable gains. This aligns with broader investment trends, as Australian VCs are targeting fintech and digital innovation sectors heavily in 2025.
New Zealand’s quiet advantage
What’s happening locally? We may be small, but we’re not starting from scratch. In fact, New Zealand is unusually well-placed for real estate tokenisation. Last month, BlockchainNZ hosted Tokenised Real Estate NZ, featuring live pilots, legal infrastructure already in place and demonstrations around how our digital land title system makes us one of the most prepared markets in the world.
If just 2-3% of our property market were tokenised, it could unlock over $60 billion in new transaction volume. That’s capital movement at a scale we’ve never before seen on local soil.
This week, Crypto Winter 2025 will bring billion-dollar Web3 companies, local regulators including the DIA and FMA and institutional finance leaders into the same boardroom. A closed-door Policy Summit will run alongside this to help map the last regulatory steps needed to take tokenisation from theory to mainstream reality.
Paul Quickenden, Chief Commercial Officer at Easy Crypto (powered by Swyftx), sees the potential but warns of the urgency: “We are still early, which means we have the rare chance to take a holistic approach to this that balances innovation, safety and global competitiveness. But that window is fast closing because the rails for tokenisation are being laid now and if we don’t help build them, we’ll be forced to run on tracks designed by others.”
Moving faster to lead
However, the truth is that New Zealand may not be moving fast enough. While Singapore and Hong Kong are already implementing token taxonomies and building live industry-regulator pipelines, New Zealand is still leaning on blanket financial laws to cover a sector that is anything but generic.
If New Zealand wants to lead, it needs to sharpen its tools. This will mean defining a clear taxonomy of tokens (a formal classification system that defines the different types of tokens in the crypto/blockchain space and how they should be treated under law so everyone knows the rules they’re playing by), adopting principles-based regulation that flexes with innovation, and creating formal, ongoing channels for industry engagement.
Tax settings will be a crucial lever. Get them right, and New Zealand will attract global tokenisation projects. Get them wrong, and the country hands opportunities to more nimble jurisdictions. A country’s tax policy can be its strongest competitive advantage or its most costly disadvantage.
Building the rails
This is not just about technology or finance, it’s about alignment and trust. Regulators need the confidence that industry can innovate responsibly. Industry needs confidence that regulators will move with clarity. Investors need to trust that protections match the opportunity.
As Quickenden observes: “New Zealand has the legal foundation, the technical infrastructure and the capital interest to lead this market, the only question is whether we’ll take the opportunity or watch it leave the station.”
The country has unique advantages: a sophisticated digital land title system, established legal frameworks, and growing institutional interest. But these advantages mean nothing if regulatory clarity doesn’t follow.
The rails for tokenisation are being laid now globally. New Zealand can help design those tracks or find itself running on infrastructure built by others. With billions in potential transaction volume at stake, the choice between leading and following has rarely been more consequential for the country’s financial future.
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