Global cryptocurrency asset management company Galaxy Digital has announced that it will tokenize the Stradivari violin, which has a history of over 300 years, accelerating the development of a new economic model for tokenizing unique assets.
According to Bloomberg, the Stradivari violin was made in 1708 and is worth about $9 million. It was once owned by Empress Yekaterina of Russia and is currently owned by Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, who won the bid at an auction last year for over $9 million.
In this case, Siu will use this historically valuable violin as collateral to borrow “millions” of dollars from Galaxy Digital, and then Galaxy Digital will tokenize it in collaboration with Siu through its subsidiary GK8. Galaxy Digital stated that by tokenizing physical assets such as artwork or musical instruments, the company can provide customers with assets with higher volatility than cryptocurrencies for more loans.
While previous tokenized assets by financial institutions mainly focused on “bonds” and “securities,” although there are many projects on the blockchain that tokenize physical assets such as real estate and watches and sell them to investors in tokenized form, they lack sufficient endorsement. The tokenization of the legendary Stradivari violin by Galaxy Digital is undoubtedly the most remarkable tokenization in history.
On the other hand, although Yat Siu and Galaxy Digital did not specify the amount of the mortgage loan, Siu indicated that it may use the loan to invest in cryptocurrency-related projects or artwork.
As for why tokenizing this significant violin, Siu stated that tokenizing the violin may be one of the answers. Siu also expressed his enthusiasm for helping to pioneer the economic model of unique assets.