Michael Novogratz's Galaxy Digital company has announced the tokenization of the Stradivarius violin, made in 1708 by order of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great.
According to the company's statement, the musical instrument belongs to Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu and is valued at about $9 million.
Galaxy will store both the tokenized version of the violin in the form of an NFT and its physical version in a Hong Kong vault.
"The tokenization of this iconic musical instrument, renowned for its unsurpassed quality and legendary provenance, marks significant progress in the application of blockchain technology to unlock the value of unique RWAs," the company noted.
Siu uses the tokenized violin "as collateral to finance the credit position of Galaxy Global Markets," the announcement says.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the co-founder of Animoca Brands said that he uses the proceeds to invest in new cryptocurrency-related projects or art.
He wants to allow others to buy the rights to the tokenized violin through a process of "fractionalization", although this is not yet a fully developed idea.
In an interview with reporters, Thomas Cowan, vice president for tokenization of Galaxy, admitted that soon the possibilities of blockchain in the RWA direction may expand to the use of real estate as collateral.
Recall that in April, the Bitfinex Securities platform announced the issue of tokenized debt obligations for the construction of the Hampton by Hilton hotel complex at El Salvador International Airport.
In May, Messari analysts reported an increase in the RWA token segment to $8 billion, due to "the market's preference for high-yield debt investments."