BlockTalks x LABS Group AMA Transcript!
Hello! BlockTalkers & Blockchain Enthusiastic!
We recently hosted an AMA with LABS Group, on March 11th at 04.00 PM UTC. Many of you might have participated or many of not. But we make sure no one missed out from the knowledge shared by Mr. Yuen Wong, CEO & Founder at LABS Group so here we are up with the AMA transcript, for those who missed the live session, this blog post will be a saver & feeder of knowledge for them.
Introduction Questions Asked By Team BlockTalks
Q1. Could you please introduce LABS to our community in layman’s term?
Ans — LABS, which stands for Liquifying Asset Backed Securities, is a Digitised Real Estate Investment Ecosystem.
LABS’ vision is to make real estate for everyone by changing the way people invest in real estate thru digitalisation, thereby solving the high involvement and transactional costs as well as illiquidity.
The blockchain powered ecosystem is comprised of:
1. Primary trading platform: the token issuance and Crowdfunding platform
2. Secondary trading platform: Digitised Real Estate Exchange, regulated and able to target retail investors.
3. Auxiliary DeFi platforms: staking pools, collaterised lending platform and integration of DEX. Plus use of NFT on property.
LABS tokens are utility tokens with the G.A.I.N.S. model, namely governance, access (to projects), Incentives, nomination (rights) and staking (for rewards).
Q2. What are the advantages of LABS to other alternatives in the Blockchain field?
Ans — A few things. One as per above, having an exchange that can target retail investors.
Another one is we integrate defi into our ecosystem to offer collaterised lending for real estate tokens, so that our investors can obtain leveraging just like traditional mortgaging. Except this happens in seconds and need to queue up in banks an wait for approvals in months. Then of coz, LABS has a very unique business model.
It is hybrid.
While LABS ecosystem runs ST tokens given that they are property, LABS tokens at utility tokens. And while the exchange part is centralised due to regulation, the defi part is decentralised.
Q3. What are the major milestones LABS achieved so far & what are in the future pipeline?
Ans — Well, we have completed our private sales very successfully.
And our launchpad sales with Duck, poolz and Mantra Dao are all extremely successful. In fact, as Duck is FCFS model, our users crashed their servers twice.
And just 30 mins ago, we completed our NFT membership card sales. Issued and supported by Ejin, our strategic partner. We raised a whopping 2M on this, and 1.5M came in the last hour.
And we are doing our Uniswap listing on 15th March, and we are giving away a luxury resort unit in Phuket island for the LP lucky draw.
And we have formed s lot of good partnership, with property listco, Enjin the largest NFT project, centrifuge which puts traditional asset on chain, polka cover to provide on chain insurance, Rio defi to offer cross chain interoperability and seamless and low cost transactions…
And we have some big big news coming too..that will really make some good noise in the market.
Questions Asked on Twitter For LABS Group Team!
Q1. Tokenization of properties leads to your asset considered as ‘security token’ with the real ownership on property right? Do you think this will spark any regulatory barrier or are you all safe in that area? How regulatory complaint is Labs Group?
Ans — Yes when it comes to our digitised real estate exchange, it has to be fully regulated and compliant.
So kyc and all that stuff, but this is pretty much the norm anyway.
We are allowed to target retail investors worldwide except USA retail investors.
Q2. You say that Labs is the first ecosystem that supports the real estate market from “Extreme to Extreme”, could you tell us in detail what characteristics it supports? Will it be everything from design to delivery to the property?
Ans —Well, we have a primary trading platform which is our crowdfunding powered by blockchain for the early stage projects.
Then we have our digitised.real estate exchange for the late stage or completed real rate projects.
Then we have the defi collaterised lending platform for leveraging solutions.
And we do offer advisory and management as well. Hence calling ourselves end to end solution provider.
Q3. If Labs able to solve the painpoint of latest barrier in real estate industry, then how the ecosystem will look like? What If we saw flaws in proposed system of Labs in future?
Ans — LABS is a Digital Real Estate Investment Ecosystem, a business that has been started since 2018 with the aim of disrupting the real estate investment world by changing the way people invest in it.
LABS will achieve this by resolving the 3 Main pain points on the industry:
1. Illiquidity
2. High initial investment costs
3. High transactional costs
4. Difficulty in performing cross border property investment management.
Hence the business model and concept we build, that is our labs ecosystem with the different layers and components, and powered by blockchain, will be the platform.
You can imagine it to be the launchpad plus marketplace for real estate.
If you see flaws, we would to…The key is to keep moving and keep innovating and hence, keep improving.
Q4. Apart from LABS, there are real estate investment companies whose income comes mainly from their rentals. They are publicly traded and must pay dividends every year, as is the case with REITs.What is the difference between LABS, REIT and other real estate investment associations?
Ans — Maybe I answer with many questions instead…
Can any investor invest in REITs?
Can REITs be invested with 100 USD easily?
Can REITs be invested even without a bank account?
Can REITs returns be distributed directly into your wallets?
Can one invest in global REITs easily?
Can REITs be traded easily and at a low costs?
Can REITs be staked to borrow digital currencies to reinvest and hence leveraging?
Can REITs give you the Liquidity you want?
Can REITs operate as a low cost investment vehicle?
Ok…One answer for you:
REIT mostly not but LABS can.
Q5. I’ve been following this project for a while and I’m glad you’ve decided to create an NFT auction pool which goes from a red to a black card with higher benefits, will these cards be transferable or tradeable? What can be done with them apart from discounts and rate improvements?
Ans — Yes, they can be traded on own markets such as opensea.
One day as LABS ecosystem grows, there will be serious property investors who want the membership cards to get early access to deals and enjoy the discounts.
LABS will also form an exclusive club with the top card holders so that by itself, it is almost like a PE fund.
Except that it is a group of people who are not only high net worth, but are more risk taking and can make quick decisions when they see good deals.
This will be a very strong PE fund or investment club in my opinion.
Questions Asked by our BlockTalks Community Members during live Session to LABS Group Team!!
Q1. LABS is the first to introduce the G.A.I.N.S model (Governance, Access, Incentives, Nomination, Staking) on its utility token. This is a very strong combination. So what do you think this strong combination will bring to your LABS and its users?
Ans — LABS tokens are Ecosystem tokens (Utility tokens) with our special G.A.I.N.S. model :
G.A.I.N.S model:
…Governance
Our token holders can vote on important matters of interests.
…Access
LABS token holders can get early access to real estate projects that the ecosystem introduces.
…Incentives
LABS token holders can get incentives should they decide to get involved in our projects on our ecosystem.
…Nomination
LABS token holders can nominate projects they wish to be launched on our platforms and be rewarded.
…Staking (for rewards)
LABS token holders can stake the tokens to get rewards. LABS will use its governed 80 percent profit generated by the LABS ecosystem to buy back LABS tokens from the open market in a quarterly manner, and distribute to the staking pool in accordance to the size and days staked in the pool.
By buying back from open markets with the ecosystem profits, the token price would be boosted and holders will be rewarded when the ecosystem gets even bigger traction.
This unique mechanism will address. the needs of short term investors and mid long terms holders.
So you can see, every part of the token design has user interest in it and they can share the fruits directly with involvement.
Q2. What are your plans in place for global expansion, are you focusing on only market at this time? Or Focus on building and developing or getting customers and users, or partnerships?
Ans — LABS is firstly blockchain, then real estate.
In the spirit of blockchain,v we always maintain openness and want to be collaborative. Hence we always welcome partnerships, good ones that is.
Just like blockchain…You have many blocks and you connect them together to make it a sold chain.
For market expansion, we will also loo for local partners in the region for the real estate side. Be it business development or local management.
Q3. Is the NFT represent the original property?
Ans — So using NFT here has got different usage case than just digitising the entire hotel. Becoz:
- Income of the rooms are directly related to the NFT
- Some might prefer to buy rooms than just Tokens of the entire hotel
- NFT can be traded on markets such as Opensea
- Individual rooms would have individual historical performance that more directly represents the value of the NFT
- You can easier design time sharing onto that NFT, even generate QR codes for the room access etc.
But we are studying a better way to utilise NFT on property and this all be revelsed soon.
Q4. What makes your project (Labs) different and unique from other blockchain backed real estate projects?
And what idea you build this project?
Ans — LABS key highlights:
1. Real estate is the largest asset class (>228tn USD) and the way people invest in it can be disrupted.
Digitised Property on blockchain offered to global investors thru crowdfunding and digital exchange is the answer.
2. LABS ecosystem solves all real estate investment pain points:
… Illiquidity
… High barrier of entry
… High transactional and exit costs
… Difficulty in crossborder investment andmanagement
Fractionalising real estate investment
Global Crowdfunding utilising digital currencies
Transactions and distributions on blockchain
Exchange offering and trading
3. LABS revolutionary and wholistic business model is an ecosystem comprising 3 different layers focusing solely on real estate:
…advisory and management
… Issuance and crowdfunding platform
… licensed digital security exchange
4. LABS augmented its ecosystem by incorporating DeFi solutions, including staking pool, Dex and lending platform.
LABS crowdfunding platform is built on Polkadot with their support.
5. LABS has traction and project pipelines:
… Advisory and management deals done
… Issuance and crowdfunding platform fully ready
… Digital security exchange license obtained and in UX/UI testing and finalisation stage.
… LABS already have projects officially agreed to be launched
6. LABS has great token design, economics and usage, and address to both markets looking for short and long term rewards:
G.A.I.N.S model:
…Governance
…Access
…Incentives
…Nomination
…Staking (for rewards)
7. LABS has strong international strategic partnerships in both blockchain and property sectors:
…America
…Europe
…Greater China
…SEA
…Middle East
8. LABS has a strong team with knowledge, ability, credentials and network in real estate, blockchain, finance and legal to make this project works.
9. LABS is strategically located for this project：
Hong Kong is property crazed and a place where most property groups are headquartered here.
It is hintered by a newly rich China where many investors look to invest in overseas properties to diversify their risks and returns.
10. The timing is perfect:
… Adoption of Crypto currencies (even by institutions)
… Advent of CBDC/DCEP (aka digital RMB) raised awareness and acceptance
… Covid further expedites digital revolution as well as making property owners more willing to explore other ways
Q5. How will $LABS guarantee my asset security in the real estate market?
Ans — First of all, all ST needs to be carefully kyc which also means there is no worry if losing the tokens.
Then when we say tokenising a real estate, it mainly means transferring the property title to a SPV, and put it into custodian or trust if need be, and then have the tokens represent the shares.
So it is absolutely safe.
Q6. Where is the LABS project now, do you not have a permanent office or in other words, do you only market this project globally through cyberspace?
Ans — LABS Group is HQed in Hong Kong, the best location for real estate digitization as it is backed by a newly rich China, and an emerging SEA. And that it has already vast experience in dealing with the western markets.
That said, LABS also have s team in China, and our partners are in Europe and US.
Q7. Your project has great features. There must be an experienced team behind. Can you tell some about your team and their experiences in the market?
Ans — LABS team is firstly blockchain then real estate and then the others. We started by identifying how blockchain can do things for the better in certain industry, and then we found the real estate sector, of which we do have good experience as well.
We went on to further complete the team from the relevant fields to make the team comprehensive and balanced.
I myself have been a partner of an digital exchange and hence have the experience to know what makes a project successful and what not, since I have come across so many projects during the course of involvement.
Here are some important links of LABS Group👇
🌎 Website: https://labsgroup.io/
📱Twitter: https://twitter.com/labsgroupio
📢 Telegram: https://t.me/labsgroupio
