Interview with Kieren James Lubin: Upgrading Capitalism Through Tokenization of Precious Metals

While I was doing my Ph.D., I began working with the Ethereum foundation as the head of the Cryptocurrency Research Group, and honestly, it was so fascinating that it kind of hijacked my attention from my studies. I just couldn't shake off how big of a deal it could be, and how much impact it could have on the real world.

So, in 2015, I decided to jump in with both feet and started BlockApps. My vision was to bridge the real world and blockchain, and at that time, the best way to do that was working with large organizations, such as Fortune 500 companies and governments. 

Over time, I’ve seen that the fastest way to bring on the most people to blockchain is by allowing consumers to buy rare and valuable real-world assets through tokenization. It's honestly one of the most thrilling aspects of blockchain, but it's still kind of a new frontier in the market.

The market is clearly in favor of precious metals, as a hedge against inflation and monetary policies. Demand for gold and silver has increased dramatically. We previously offered collectibles including branded shoes, so we do aim to cater to retail customers as well. We have three major tokenization marketplaces, in relation to carbon, metals, and collectibles. 

These are three trends that modern customers are looking for, so we cater to them. It’s not really a pivot, we offer both retail and enterprise-level solutions, but we’re focusing on tokenized sliver at the present time due to the market situation. People want silver, and having it in a tokenized format is much easier in comparison to storing it physically. It can be bought and sold with far more ease.

It’s silver with an improved environmental footprint. So those who care about the environment can make a difference through conscious purchases, though it is $1 more expensive than our regular tokenized offerings. 

It uses tokenized carbon credits to offset 67 kg of carbon per troy ounce of silver, through investment in multiple green initiatives. Basically, when you purchase Merkata’s carbon-neutral silver, you are supporting solar, wind, biomass, hydro, and other projects across the globe.

Well, even mainstream outlets and institutions are now pretty much onboarded with Web3 and cryptocurrencies. The traditional narratives about cryptocurrencies being useless have mainly died off, though volatility cannot be denied. 

If you think about it, this is the perfect combination. Metals are stable but hard to trade. Tokens are highly liquid but volatile. Securely stored metals with a digital representation for easy payments is the perfect combination. 

The resurgence in interest comes from a clear lack of trust in the existing financial markets and a volatile global environment.

Well, we’re definitely seeing more people looking to spend tokenized silver in retail outlets, often with an associated debit card. In the near future, a debit card might not even be required, with terminals that are compatible with Web3 wallets. 

These wallets will contain tokens linked to real-world assets - effectively, world citizens will be able to spend real estate portfolios, stocks, precious metals, and much more. It’s a completely new lifestyle paradigm.

RWA enables the tokenization of assets. This is huge because, in the traditional financial markets, retail customers had no access to many projects due to high entry prices. With RWA, this is no longer the case. 

Assets can be bought and sold much more easily. So it also means that an existing asset like a house can be tokenized and sold more readily by a lower-income family, with far fewer legal fees and red tape. 

We are ahead of the curve as the oldest Web3 RWA firm on the market, with the best big brand connections. Upgrading capitalism is not a simple step. It needs to be broken up into a thousand pieces and redistributed through Web3 initiatives, day by day. But we’re getting there.

It’s more of a collaboration than supporting my journey. The quicker that people start to use tokenized products and eco-friendly designs, the quicker the upgrade to a greener and fairer world. Online business owners can take advantage of the many Web3 tools we offer (privacy, governance, APIs, analytics, data modeling, identity management, etc). 

Those looking to invest in silver or collectibles can check out the marketplace. There is no reason to purchase physical silver when it is available in tokenized format through our platform. You get all the benefits of both physical and digital assets, linked together through a secure and regulated ecosystem. 

You can buy carbon-neutral silver from BlockApps today, using MetaMask, ACH, or card payments.