Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp tokenizes million-euro classic masterpiece

cointelegraph.com:

According to blockchain digitization provider Tokeny, on Monday, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) has become the first European museum to tokenize investment in fine art, starting with Belgian painter James Ensor (1860 – 1949)’s painting Carnaval de Binche. Investors can obtain fractional ownership of the work starting from 150 euros. The venture is a joint effort between KMSKA, Tokeny and blockchain art entity Rubey, with the tokens themselves being ERC-3643 compliant and launching on the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain. 

As told by the parties, the ultimate goal of the collaboration is to lower the investment barriers to entry and enable everyday users to become co-owners of expensive fine art pieces that are typically only accessible by affluent individuals. Via an innovative fundraising method, an Art Security Token Offering, individuals were able to collectively purchase and ensure that KMSKA receives it on a long-term loan.

Unlike nonfungible tokens, the Art Security Tokens in the transactions are backed by debt instruments. Therefore, Rubey selected Tokeny's tokenization APIs to issue and manage securitized tokens in a regulatory-compliant manner. Regarding the development, Luc Falempin, CEO of Tokeny, commented:

Meanwhile, Luk Lemmens, President of KMSKA, added: