Crowdfunding giant Indiegogo Inc. announced Thursday that today would be the first day accredited investors could buy shares in a ritzy Colorado hotel St. Regis Aspen Resort with tokens sold on the blockchain.

To create these tokens, the resort will create Aspen Coins via the Aspen Digital Inc. token asset offering. For the purposes of investment, the cryptocurrency coins are treated as “security tokens,” which are a replacement for paper certificates of equity in the property as investments in compliance with United States Regulation D Rule 506(c). According to that regulation, only accredited investors may participate in this sale.

“Security token offerings are the investment tool of the future, a mechanism designed to store wealth by utilizing income-producing digital assets,” Stephane de Baets, founder and president of Elevated Returns, said in a statement. Elevated Returns purchased St. Regis Aspen Resort in 2010.

“By opening access to investing in traditional assets like real estate, we are creating a new opportunity for investors to explore an ownership stake in something previously only accessible to private investors and high net worth individuals,” De Baets said. “Indiegogo is a well-known and trusted name in alternative funding and cryptocurrency, making them an incredible partner for us to leverage their influence, experience and global audience.”

The tokens will be offered directly through Templum Markets LLC, a Securities and Exchange Commission-registered broker-dealer and member of the Financial Regulatory Authority.

Although this is considered an initial coin offering, similar to crowdfunding sales held by blockchain startups seeking funding to kick off their company, the tokens themselves do not represent a utility that can be used in exchange for goods or services. Instead, they’re private securities designed only for investors.

Templum is calling this crowdfunding foray a “tokenized asset offering” or TAO. The sale price of tokens is $1 each with a minimum investment of $10,000. The total size of the offering is $18 million and it will close on Sept. 14. Investors will be able to purchase Aspen Coins with U.S. dollars, bitcoin or Ether (the Ethereum token).

These tokens can be held in any ERC20 compliant Ethereum blockchain wallet, meaning that most Ethereum wallets can hold them. Thus, tokens can also be exchanged with other Ethereum users and for other cryptocurrencies on open exchanges that support such trades.

As a security token in the property, Aspen Coins provide no utility to holders other than as an investment instrument. That means that owning a coin does not translate into benefits or property ownership. The mechanism of investment is merely that the tokens are themselves backed by a tangible asset, the real estate of the luxury hotel.

Nestled in the Rocky Mountains, St. Regis Aspen Resort is indeed a luxury locale. The property boasts 179 rooms, including 25 luxury suites, a 15,000-square-foot luxury spa and 14 large, fully equipped meeting spaces. As a resort, St. Regis also provides access to ski slopes, which the brochure claims afford one of the longest ski seasons in the world.

Indiegogo’s role in the TAO will be limited to promotional work and marketing, although the company is well known for its part in general crowdfunding. Sales and asset exchange will be handled by Templum for Aspen Digital’s tokens, mentioned above, and investors will work entirely with it.

As a company, Indiegogo is no stranger to cryptocurrency and ICOs. Its first toe-dip into the cryptocurrency waters happened in December with a fan-controlled football league ICO. However, the company quickly soon shut that down in July after receiving $5.2 million in token sales. Indiegogo’s token brokerage partner in that venture, MicroVentures Inc., announced at the time that buyers would receive refunds and no tokens were issued.

With this new attempt at outreach into the cryptocurrency industry, however, Indiegogo is seeking to connect digital tokens with physical assets as a way to differentiate from other ICOs in the market.

“Having a clear asset like the St. Regis Aspen is the beginning of signaling a shift in how people think about tokenization and investing in blockchains and crypto,” said Slava Rubin, co-founder and chief business officer at Indiegogo.

Further information about the sale and the St. Regis Aspen Resort property is available at Indiegogo’s campaign website and from Templum’s investor registration page.

Image: Aspen Digital