A cryptocurrency consortium has scored another first through an ambitious plan to resurrect the once “gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.” The Great Keppel Island will become the first island in the world to become wholly-tokenized as a Security Token Offering – available to retail traders and private investors.
Australia’s Crypto Push
The party island was once advertised as the place to “get wrecked” but long fell into disrepair and faded from most people’s memories. That is now set for the back burner following an ambitious plan by a cryptocurrency consortium to transform the Great Keppel Island into a Shangri-La. The construction is scheduled to begin next year and will run until 2023.
The new high-tech wonderland will include a golf course, private villas, a luxury resort, apartments, a marina and retail outlets. The proposed development, which will include an airstrip big enough to handle domestic and international flights, is being touted as the world’s biggest cryptocurrency backed property deal.
The project’s co-founder Tim Sommens has hinted that the token holders will receive a huge return on investment from the island besides asset backing. He said:
“The GKI Token Holders will have the very real asset backing of the actual island, which is predicted to be valued at over $3 billion when fully developed within five years,[…] the GKI Token Holders also receive the benefit of liquidity should they wish to sell their tokens at any time.”
Great Keppel Island will be the first Blockchain-, Crypto- and Internet of Things-enabled Island in the world allowing high security, crypto payments and accountability for services.
Government Joins In
Should the project, in which the Queensland Government is investing $25 million to connect water and power, and whose developmental proposal it has approved, go according to plan, the completed project will emerge as the world’s leading island cryptocurrency micro-economy and eventually bring the emerging digital economy into bricks and mortar.
Cryptocurrency investors should soon receive invitations to purchase the GKI Tokens, which should be tradable on cryptocurrency exchanges.
There are scanty details so far regarding how the tokens could become part of the island’s currency; the expected whitepaper will give the finer details. The consortium will fund the $300 million development plan through a Security Token Offering, similar to an Initial Coin Offering for shares.
The island’s owners, Tower Holding, are excited about the project. The CEO Anthony Aiossa believes the development will create a new benchmark within Australia’s tourism industry:
“The Great Keppel Island project will create an iconic tourism destination for both domestic and international guests who wish to experience the Great Barrier Reef in all of its glory.”