BLOCKCHAIN SLUMLORDS
For those of us who've lived in homes with sagging ceilings and absent landlords, this isn't just another crypto horror story.
It's déjà vu - only now, the neglect is tokenized.
RealT promised a financial revolution: slice Detroit homes into digital tokens, let overseas investors grab a piece for just $50, and watch the passive income roll in.
But what happens when thousands of distant token holders collectively shrug at black mold?
When no one shows up to fix the leaking roof because ownership has been fractured into untraceable blockchain addresses?
Tenants like Shirquera Ayers found out the hard way, living with crumbling ceilings and unpaid property taxes while RealT racked up over 1,000 blight violations.
Meanwhile, the company's glossy marketing materials kept promising "democratized ownership" and "community investment."
Who answers the desperate call of a single mother when her toilet overflows and her landlord is a smart contract?
Ray Bradbury nailed it many decades ago.
In "The Veldt," a family installs a nursery that creates immersive virtual worlds.
When the parents try to shut it down, the children program it to trap them in an African savanna where virtual lions devour them – a chilling parable about technology without responsibility.
Fast forward to 2025. RealT isn't revolutionizing real estate - they're just packaging slumlording into tokens.
Investors get fractional ownership and weekly dividends. Tenants get black mold and crickets when they report broken toilets.
The blockchain doesn't fix the pipes. It just obscures who's supposed to.
Public records paint a devastating picture: 1,200+ housing units across Detroit, with 300+ behind on taxes, 1,000+ blight violations, and around 200 facing foreclosure.
The company owes Detroit at least $2 million in unpaid taxes and tickets.
This isn't some small crypto experiment. It's gentrification by algorithm.
RealT has amassed a troubling track record in Detroit, while expanding its operations to Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis.