From Macallans to Monet: Luxury Investments are now making their way to apps!”
The marketplace model is all the rage in fintech because it is convenient and accessible and investors using a ‘Super app’ like Revolut can access different services and asset options from one interface i.e. Crypto, Insurance, Gold and so on.
In time, I expect this market to open up to the point where the ordinary consumer has access to alternate investments like #whiskey, yachts and high-end cars. In fact, the high-speed race to differentiate products and services has already begun across every industry — and Blockchain will become the accelerator.
Rarer varieties of Whiskey have topped the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, having risen by over 500% from 2010–2020. Naturally, making it more accessible through apps would increase exposure and liquidity, making it an even more competitive asset class to invest in.
Personally, I have invested in a few bottles of the “MACALLAN Archival Series Folio 5”. The problem, however, is that the current process for selling the whisky is pretty analogue: slow and complicated. I need to use an exchange like Whiskyhammer, Scotch Whisky auctioneer, or sell privately through Facebook, and to do that I first need to drop my whisky off at their local office, after which they would insure the bottle before selling it, charging a fee for both processes.
Historically, there is the option of putting a reserve price (seller’s preferred minimum price), which from recent experience is being discouraged by auction houses which is at the disadvantage of me as ‘the seller’, particularly when it’s regarded by me as an investment. The high levels of friction involved in buying and selling whiskey and a relatively closed market place means liquidity is impacted. It is also hard to access secondary markets to sell the whiskey.
Many industries are facing similar problems in respect to liquidity and access to a 24/7 global marketplace. Digitisation of rare collectibles has emerged as an exciting and lucrative option to open up fractional ownership and enable easy round the clock, global trading at the touch of a button.
So now, they’re digitising the whole process to enable the likes of Rare Spirits & other collectibles to be digitised into tokens to trade.
Not only does the tokenisation of assets reduce the friction for everyone in the process, but it improves the margins and democratises investment options for the everyday consumer. At the same time, it enables businesses to revamp their models and stay competitive over time.
Is this idea of owning a part of a Monet one day a pipe dream? While I wait for that day, if you would like to buy one of my bottles of MACALLAN feel free to ping me directly and I’m sure we can do a deal ;-)!!
