Recent trends related to RWA! What [NOT A HOTEL] and [Sake World NFT] aim to achieve
The open seminar was held for business operators, including startups, involved in the RWA business, and was titled "JCBA Open Seminar: The Latest Trends in RWA Business and Issues for Its Development." This article reports on the discussion, which included the case studies of "NOT A HOTEL" and "Sake World."

Tokenization of real world assets The "RWA (Real World Assets)" area tokenizes real world assets using blockchain/Web3.
In addition to tangible assets such as precious metals, art, and real estate such as homes and land, they also offer intangible assets such as stocks and bonds, and Sake World is developing an RWA business linked to sake.
There are various forms of assets in the real world, and the tokenization of such RWAs (real estate assets) has been attracting attention in recent years as a new trend in asset management.
The latest trends and challenges for development in the RWA business (JCBA Open Seminar) was held this time and was targeted at business operators, including startups, involved in the RWA business ecosystem, and stakeholders in the RWA business ecosystem, and participants exchanged information on the latest trends and future outlook for the industry.
*This event was held as part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Demonstration Project for Building Digital Public Goods Using Web 3.0 and Blockchain," which is being undertaken by the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association (JCBA).
Although Web 3.0 and blockchain are technologies with great potential for the future, they have a wide range of issues, such as "it is difficult to see their value," "it is difficult to tackle them as a business," and "there are many complex and unclear aspects." In order to solve these issues, we have formulated "Guidelines for the Use of Tokens Related to RWA (Real Assets, etc.)," taking into account the opinions of businesses that actually use digital assets and experts on legal regulations.
■ Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association (JCBA)
https://cryptocurrency-association.org/
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Recent Trends in RWA Panel Discussion
■From the left
・ Mr. Hajime Saito
(Chief Attorney at Law, So Sato Law Office/NY State Attorney)
He has served as a director, auditor, advisor, and secretary for the Japan Blockchain Association, Japan STO Association, Japan Crypto Asset Business Association, Metaverse Japan, and FinTech Association, and has also served as an auditor for HashPort and a former director of bitFlyer. He has extensive knowledge of Web3 and FinTech, and mainly deals with various technology-related projects such as AI, VR/AR, and drones, as well as startup and venture finance.
・Masashi Masuda
(Partner at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto Law Offices / Professor at Hitotsubashi University)
He has consistently worked in the IT and digital fields and has been involved in numerous cases across a wide range of industries. Having worked in the drafting of blockchain-related legislation at the Financial Services Agency, he is also well versed in Fintech. As a rare lawyer with expertise in both content and blockchain, he disseminates a lot of information in the web3 and metaverse fields and is actively involved in rule-making in the government and industry.
・ Yuki Kamimoto (Moderator)
(N.Avenue Inc./CoinDesk JAPAN CEO
In 2013, he joined Yahoo Japan Corporation (now LINE Yahoo). In 18, he founded N.Avenue, a media company that disseminates information on Web3, and became its CEO. He runs the official Japanese version of CoinDesk, the world's largest digital asset news media, and N.Avenue club, Japan's largest corporate Web3 business community.
Hiroyoshi Uma
(Leaf Publications Co., Ltd. Executive Vice President/Lawyer)
Graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo and the Graduate School of Law at the University of Tokyo. Since 2014, he has worked as a lawyer on large-scale litigation cases for listed companies, M&A, and shareholder meetings. Since 2020, he has been in charge of all publishing and sake business at Leaf Publications.
・ Izumi Okamoto
(Web3 Business Lead, NOT A HOTEL Co., Ltd.)
After working in customer support at bitFlyer, he launched a Bitcoin consultation desk at Sakura Exchange Bitcoin. He joined NOT A HOTEL in August 2022.
The panel discussion began by hearing from Mr. Okamoto of NOT A HOTEL Co., Ltd. and Mr. Uma of Leaf Publications/Sake World NFT, who are taking cutting-edge approaches to RWA trends and the latest examples, and then asking Mr. Saito and Mr. Masuda for their opinions.
"Your home around the world" NOT A HOTEL
-What is NOT A HOTEL?
Okamoto-san: "Actually, we're not building a hotel, we're building a villa. We're creating an experience that allows you to expand your home all over the world. Specifically, we're selling villas that can be used for 10 nights a year."
This service allows you to use all NOT A HOTEL villas, including those owned by the company. From April 2024, 4, the service will be available not only for domestic properties, but also for affiliated overseas hotels.
Okamoto: "We sold NFTs in 2022, and the total amount raised is 7.6 million yen. What was interesting was that over 80% of the purchases were made in Japanese yen. When we surveyed people, we found that it was the first time they had purchased an NFT."
Starting in the summer of 2022, the company will be rolling out a membership service using NFTs called "NOT A HOTEL MEMBERSHIP NFT." Currently, the company is working on a project called "NOT A HOTEL DAO," which will issue new NOT A HOTEL COINs and own and operate its own facilities and land for development.
Okamoto-san: "Right now, I'm working on a new project called NOT A HOTEL DAO. We're challenging ourselves to think of new ways to hold and use RWA, or real assets, which is the topic of today's talk."
As part of the project, a new cryptocurrency called NOT A HOTEL COIN will be issued, and while until now, NFTs could be used to purchase accommodation vouchers for villas for a minimum of 10 days, this will now be broken down into smaller amounts, allowing the use to start from one night per year.
- Regarding the new cryptocurrency and the difference between the targets in the past and the future
Okamoto: "We want to market to crypto users, but it's not just the crypto community that is interested in NOT A HOTEL. We have properties that cost tens or hundreds of millions of yen, and when we turned them into NFT membership cards for 125 million yen, more people bought them. If we made this into an asset replacement rather than consumption, wouldn't it make it easier to stay there? That's what we're proposing."
If one person buys a property, it would cost tens or hundreds of millions of yen, and multiple people would own it. You can participate in NOT A HOTEL DAO by holding NOT A HOTEL COIN, and multiple people can own and use (stay at) NOT A HOTEL, which is a real asset.
-About the targets, advantages and disadvantages of share purchases, NFTs and crypto assets
Okamoto-san: "Our main target is people who think that NOT A HOTEL is a good choice for share purchases, and who are torn between buying a villa or a resort hotel and choosing NOT A HOTEL. The reason we created NFT is that we designed it as a product that can be purchased by company employees and employees, including myself, by creating a product in the 100 million yen range."
It is said that it is a model for those who want to try it out first and then buy a property. Regarding cryptocurrencies, they felt that the benefit was that it attracted more users. It is essential to increase awareness in order to reach a new target demographic. The disadvantage is that it requires support and labor.
Masuda concluded by expressing the following opinion.
"NOT A HOTEL is a very easy-to-understand example. Things that seem suitable for RWA tokens are things that have a need for small amounts. I think that share purchases are an area that users can easily imagine. I think it's a good idea to think that blockchain, a tool that can make things more convenient, can be used in an area where there is a demand for small amounts and fragmented transactions."
"Creating a Sake Creator Economy" Sake World NFT
Hazama: "The Sake World business is mainly about building and operating a platform system called Sake World NFT. In simple terms, it is a secondary market for NFT tickets that can be exchanged for sake."
About Sake World NFT
This is a new marketplace where you can purchase sake just like on a regular online shopping site, but also age and store sake, and buy and sell it between individuals.
Hama: "Currently, there are over 215 breweries that have applied to exhibit their sake on Sake World NFT, and the total number of brands exhibited at present is just under 500. Everything is linked to the RWA physical product, and the physical product can be delivered anywhere in Japan, and from November it will be possible to deliver to Singapore. We are now at the stage where we will be adapting to the legal systems of each country and expanding the service one by one."
The main feature is that, under the Liquor Tax Act, alcoholic beverages, including sake, could only be sold by those who held a liquor sales license, but now general users who do not hold such licenses can also buy and sell them. Also, in order to boost the sake industry, a system has been incorporated in which, when a sale is made between general users, a certain royalty according to the transaction amount is returned to the sake brewery that produced the sake.
Uma: "The Liquor Tax Act was the thing that took the longest. Normally, you can't sell alcohol without a sales license, but we received confirmation from the National Tax Agency that within the scope of our liquor sales license, we are not violating the law by distributing NFTs (alcohol tickets), which do not move the physical goods. Now that this has been cleared, we believe that this will lead to a huge expansion in the way that ordinary users can buy and sell alcohol by converting it into NFTs."
As a future expansion, an experience facility where visitors can make blended sake was pre-opened on November 11th.
Uma: "What I'm working on now is creating a sake creator economy. I'm putting together a system where anyone can freely create and distribute alcoholic beverages as NFTs, and then monetize them."
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- My Sake World Oike Bettei, an original sake-making experience facility, has pre-opened near Kyoto City Hall Station!
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#Kyoto#Assemblage
*Sake World NFT is a project run by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) under the "FY3.0 Web XNUMX and Blockchain-based Digital Public Goods Construction Demonstration Project" (URL:https://jissui.or.jp/project/project017/) was selected in response to a public call for proposals under theme 1, "Building a digital market (issuance and distribution market) for physical and intangible assets."
Masuda's view is as follows:
"As you say, getting through the hurdle of obtaining a liquor license was a major breakthrough."
Regarding Sake World NFT's plans to expand overseas, Masuda said that each country in the world has its own unique licensing system for alcohol. "In that context, this initiative to expand the number of countries and regions in which it is available is wonderful," he said.
Recent trends in RWA: Comparing Japan and the rest of the world
Saito: "RWAs are said to be popular worldwide. However, when I talk to people overseas, RWAs are mostly in the financial sector. There is a lot of talk about tokenizing stocks and securities. In Japan, real estate security tokens, in other words, financial products, are the most common in terms of value, but when people say RWAs are popular in Japan, they often refer to things that are not securities, so that may be a little different from overseas. However, overseas there are also RWAs for art, and RWAs for hotels and other assets like those we're talking about today."
Masuda: "Compared to the US, the scope of what constitutes securities in Japan is narrower, and the range of things that can be traded through NFTs is quite broad. For example, in the context of the sharing economy, I think services that bridge the gap between ownership and use are rapidly expanding. There is also a trend to segment luxury experiences in the entertainment context, such as restaurants, concerts, idols, and sports, and tokenize and sell them to form communities and increase fan engagement."
He said that food products can be avoided as securities, and that the idea of tokenizing them is interesting. He also said that the idea of RWA tokens is useful as a mechanism to make it easier to deliver value to the field of regional revitalization.
NOT A HOTEL represents the spectacular scenery and architecture of various parts of Japan, while Sake World NFT represents local sake from various parts of Japan. By focusing on tourist destinations that have not been noticed until now, the RWA token has the power to convey new charms of Japan to the world.
-What is NFT?
・How to purchase sake NFT here.From!
・Sake World NFT is here.
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