Cryptocurrency trading firm XBTO has created a new tokenization team focused on real world assets (RWAs), driving forward blockchain-based corporate debt issuances the firm has been working on, with areas like real estate to follow.

Much of the tokenization attention has been on large banks like JPMorgan and asset management giants like BlackRock, who have been focused for the most part on blockchain-based versions of U.S. Treasuries.

Arguably closer to real world scenarios, the Bermuda-based XBTO has been working on mid-tier corporate debt issuances, including two instances of tokenized debt, or “senior e-notes,” by boutique airline BermudAir. In the coming weeks, hemp and CBD producer AgroRef is also launching an e-note on XBTO.

The new tokenization team, led by MD Mas Nakachi, works with on-chain capital markets platform Obligate, with the e-notes rated by Credora, a platform that produces technology-driven credit assessments, XBTO said.

A mid-sized or smallish company looking at financing may lack access to those markets and find it punitive to issue financing in the traditional way, dealing with the costs of an investment bank, said Javier Rodriguez Alarcon, chief commercial officer of XBTO.

“Reducing the cost burden for private companies to be able to issue can also be translated into a better rate for the investor and a more appealing investment proposition,” Rodriguez Alarcon said in an interview. “On top of that there's the speed to settlement and the transparency associated with using the rails of crypto.”

XBTO, which is regulated in Bermuda, offers its tokenized assets to accredited investors, and only those outside the U.S.