New DAO style share house in Tokyo to use NFTs for residence

Original Japanese text written by. Ryuki Ishii
Translated by. Marco Farinaccia 

Roopt神楽坂DAO (Roopt Kagurazaka DAO), a share house located in Tokyo that uses NFTs, will open in September, Business Insider Japan and Forbes Japan report. The share house is not controlled and operated by a single owner, but instead employs a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) style system where the inhabitants and other investors take part in the autonomous operation of the property.

DAOs are operated through the use of smart contracts, programs that are stored on the blockchain and can automatically execute or control the terms of a contract. Roopt Kagurazaka DAO does not currently use smart contracts, so it’s technically not a DAO yet. However, there are plans to implement smart contracts in the future.

Roopt is a share house series developed through the cooperation of Makigumi, a company that renovates and rents out vacant houses, and GaiaX, a startup company in Japan that aims to solve social issues. Roopt Kagurazaka DAO is the latest share house in the series and  a newly renovated two-story wooden house that was originally built in 1958. The building contains a lodging area for up to ten people and there’s a separate building right next to it that is intended to be used as a coworking space.

A total of 240 NFTs will be issued, and a single person can purchase a maximum of 24 tokens. One NFT is worth 30,000 yen (around $220) and can be exchanged for a one month stay at Roopt Kagurazaka DAO or an eight-day, seven-night working vacation at any of the properties in the Roopt series.

Holders of the NFTs will be able to transfer them to others at a price of their own choosing. Those who can participate are limited to student entrepreneurs, a restriction that was put in place by Makigami and GaiaX presumably so that NFT holders would have a better chance at sharing a common goal of creating an ideal share house for student entrepreneurs.

According to Makigumi and GaiaX, by using a DAO and NFTs, they aim to solve the issues present in current living environments in Japan, such as properties being too expensive or not being able to choose residents. While Makigumi acts as the representative for any external transactions, the rules and use of the operating budget (1 million yen – around $7,300) will be decided internally by the DAO.

Makigumi provided Business Insider Japan with a comment that said, “In terms of renovating properties and operating share houses, some of our customers voice their displeasure at the inconvenience that occurs after renovations and rules have been decided upon. As a real estate business, we have really felt the effects of this issue.” Since the methods of operation in a DAO style share house are chosen by the residents themselves, it should likely alleviate those kinds of issues.

At 30,000 yen a month, it’s actually quite cheap for a share house located in Tokyo. The way NFTs are being used is experimental but very intriguing. While this current property is limited to student entrepreneurs, it would be interesting to see whether such a business model would work for a share house that allowed for a wider range of members.

Roopt Kagurazaka DAO is scheduled to open in September. The aim is to create around 200 similar share houses throughout Japan within the next five years.