Investor group may create its own cryptocurrency to fund purchase of the Plaza
Photo via Wally Gobetz/Flickr
Photo via Wally Gobetz/Flickr
Cryptocurrencies make the wild west look tame. Yet despite their volatility, they’re becoming more of a presence in NYC real estate. Five days ago, when we reported on the first Bitcoin closings in Manhattan, the value of Bitcoin was $8,592. It is currently $7,999. According to a CNBC report, Chimera, a group of foreign investors interested in buying the Plaza Hotel, is considering offering partial payment for the transaction in a new cryptocurrency. Chimera has proposed the creation of the “Plaza Token,” an asset-backed securitized token, to raise more than $375 million. They are being advised about this initial coin offering by a company called Securitize. “This would give cryptocurrency investors the chance to diversify into luxury real estate and receive certain concessions inside the Plaza Hotel,” CNBC reports.
The Indian-based Sahara Group is a majority owner of the Plaza. They have been trying to sell their investment in the Plaza repeatedly, worth around $560 million, for some time, most recently in August 2017. The chairman of Sahara, Subrata Roy, was jailed for his involvement in a scandal involving his refusal to pay billions to bond investor. Since then, he has moved his investments to the U.S.
The Plaza Hotel has no comment.
Ironically, the definition of the word chimera is, “a thing that is hoped or wished for but in fact is illusory or impossible to achieve.” So will Chimera’s cryptocurrency transaction be illusory or not?
[Via CNBC]
RELATED:
