With the Alpha launch of the Realio Network on April 7th, 2023, holders now have the chance to take advantage of the utility portion of the Realio Security Token ($RST).

We first issued $RST via a pre-sale and Security Token Offering (STO) on the Realio investment platform through an exempt private offering. We built it as a hybrid equity token, offering both equity and utility to holders. An equity token is a type of security token that reflects ownership in an underlying asset, usually a company's shares. Much like shares, the contract provides the terms and circumstances that apply to those shares. When creating $RST, we wanted to offer this traditional real equity but in the form of a native token on a distributed network.

Here's a breakdown of the equity returns of $RST:

$RST Equity

The equity portion of $RST represents ownership and profit share rights in Realio Network LTD (our technology subsidiary). Realio Network LTD is the 100% owner of Realio Technology LTD, a BVI company, which is developing and owns the rights to the Realio Issuance and Investment Platform, the Realio Network (which is open-source), Districts (a real-world themed virtual world project), and the Freehold Wallet app (a forthcoming non-custodial, multi-chain DeFi wallet app built on Realio's blockchain infrastructure).

$RST Utility

The utility portion of $RST was built to represent special privileges within the Realio ecosystem. Now that the Realio Network Alpha launch is here, $RST holders can unlock this utility through an economic incentive to participate in the Network. This participation includes running validators, or delegating to existing validators, offering them the ability to earn rewards while helping to keep the Network secure. Holders can also participate in Network voting to shape the future of the Network.

Building the Right Solution for Holders

The Realio Network is built using the CometBFT Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus engine, which provides a scalable and energy-efficient algorithm to secure the Network. Our engineering team went through several design iterations to achieve the Network level utility we wanted to provide for $RST holders.

We liked the idea of a PoS consensus because it required holders to “stake” some of their holdings as collateral. Staking locks up their deposit for 7 days. If a validator acts maliciously (for example, fails to sign a transaction or double signs a block), they can lose some of their staked funds. The idea is that holders have something to risk, i.e., skin in the game if they behave dishonestly. 

The technology challenge ensued when we decided to provide a feature where both $RST and native $RIO (Realio Network Token) - two tokens - could be used as collateral to secure the Network. As a Cosmos-SDK-based chain that uses CometBFT’s consensus engine, we were initially under a design constraint of being able to support only one token, the Network’s native $RIO, as the bondable token. We wanted to provide a dual-staking option as another layer of value to our $RST holders, and that’s exactly what we did!

Initially, our engineering team wanted to implement this capability inside our application layer, but ultimately the team decided to fork the SDK and add this in the core layer (more information will be published after our Alpha Launch).

Focusing on Real Value

As we continue building out the Realio Network and its related products, we want to unlock the most value for all $RST holders. With our desire to think outside the box, $RST now offers true equity and utility within the Realio ecosystem. Holders share in the profitability of the technology platform, and there is an incentive to participate. This is why it fits perfectly as a hybrid digital security token. 

We are excited to offer this feature and more to all our $RST holders!

To get $RST, see our ‘how-to guide’ or click below to learn about the Realio Network.