




Owning India’s real estate one square foot at a time with ease: Alt DRX's Avinash Rao
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Imagine owning a piece of a luxury apartment in Mumbai or a high-yield property in Pune with the same ease as buying a sachet of shampoo or a plate of dosa. This vision of "miniaturizing" wealth was in the spotlight at the Mint Money Festival 2026, held on 14 February in Mumbai.
Avinash Rao, founder of Alt DRX, a Bangalore-based, blockchain-powered digital real estate marketplace, said the future of the Indian dream isn't just about owning a home, but about "tokenizing" it. "I come from the land of the Benne dosa," Rao said, citing Bangalore’s lightning-fast quick service restaurant culture as a metaphor for the digital future. Just as Darshani’s (renowned Bangalore cafe) tokenized the dining experience for efficiency and access, Rao believes real estate is next.
“The shampoo market would not have been what it is today had it not been for the sachet. Tokenization is nothing but that, the moment you miniaturize something of value, you expand the market." For most Indians, real estate is a "tough" asset class, often considered illiquid, hyper-local, and buried in tedious paperwork. Rao noted that by 2030, real-world asset tokenization will be a $16 billion opportunity, moving property from a "locked" physical asset to a fluid digital one.
"You can sit where you are right now, use that mobile phone, and own a square foot anywhere in the country," he said, citing global examples like Arrived in the US and Get Stake in Dubai. Rao sought to decouple the technology from the hype. "The moment I say tokenization, 50% of people say, ‘Ah, crypto.’ This is not gambling; it is the fractionalization of a known asset.
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