Building Inclusion on the Blockchain

Blockchain is providing leverage to underrepresented groups. Through decentralization, women, minorities, and people in poor communities around the world are able to bypass traditional gatekeepers to gain access to resources that foster economic and social equality.

This is the investment thesis of A100x—a Rolling Fund investing in early-stage blockchain, AI, and IoT companies often led by female and minority founders that aim to unlock the potential of frontier technology in solving pressing world problems.

“If we’re to realize the limitless potential of blockchain, we have to make inclusion a priority from the get go, not retroactively,” said Nisa Amolis, co-GP of A100x and author of "WTF is Happening: Women Tech Founders on the Rise."

Amolis and her co-GP, Aleksandr Bulkin, point to title registry as an example of how blockchain can create leverage for marginalized communities. Governmental corruption and disorganization have left only 30% of the world’s population with a legally registered title to their land. Those that don’t have a property title are unable to unlock the economic potential of their real estate—meaning they can’t leverage it to secure new forms of collateral or credit that, in turn, might help them build greater financial freedom. 

Enter blockchain. By encrypting land titles on the blockchain, property owners can circumvent gatekeepers, eliminate tampering, and get more leverage. Vermont, Chicago, Sweden, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and the Republic of Georgia, among others, are already using blockchain land registries in some form.

Meanwhile, real estate giants RE/MAX and Keller Williams have started using blockchain to manage real estate transactions. New businesses models have also begun offering ways for property owners to access the liquidity in their real estate through tokenization. Reinno provides loans of up to $50M secured against tokenized real estate, and Merdido allows commercial property owners to sell digital shares of their real estate.

This emerging infrastructure has the potential to facilitate market transactions, unlock financial options, and spur economic development for populations that have historically been cut off from the global economy.

“A blockchain titling system would make it much easier to use real estate as a financial asset—especially in countries with corruption,” said Bulkin, who also co-founded the crypto investment firm CoinFund. “This is just one example of how blockchain and AI will create the next wave of 100x returns and make life better for millions of people around the world.”

A100x is allowing a limited number of women and minority investors to subscribe at a reduced rate per quarter. By doing so, A100x believes it can expand access to a sector PwC forecasts will create over $1.76T in economic impact by 2030 and drive significant capital allocation towards solutions that matter most for the global population.