Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital and Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu have tokenized a Stradivarius violin from 1708 to use as collateral for a multimillion-dollar loan.
On June 4, Galaxy reportedly lent an undisclosed amount of funds to Siu, who used the 316-year-old violin he owned as collateral. The digital assets firm turned the violin into a nonfungible token (NFT) and will hold the NFT and the physical version until Siu settles the loan.
Antique violin called Empress Caterina. Source: Tarisio
While Galaxy and Siu did not share the loan amount, they said it was “in the millions.” A Hong Kong-based custodian will hold the violin until Siu and Galaxy sign off on its removal from their custody.
300-year-old Stradivarius violin
The violin once belonged to the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. According to Tarisio, a musical instrument auction house, they have documented the violin’s provenance, tracing it back over 300 years.
Empress Catherine the Great in 1763. Source: Tarisio
Tarisio reported that the Russian ambassador to Venice procured the violin for Empress Elisabeth Petrovna, who reigned over the Russian Empire from 1741 to 1762.
When she died, the violin was given to her successor, Catherine II, more commonly known as Catherine the Great.
Siu acquired the violin in 2023 in an auction for over $9 million.
Tokenizing assets in lending
Thomas Cowan, Galaxy’s vice president of tokenization, said that the ability to tokenize physical assets might change the situation in crypto lending. Collateral tied to crypto assets is usually very high because of digital asset volatility.
In a Bloomberg interview, Cowan stated that tokenizing physical assets enables them to lend more to their clients, even against volatile assets like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH). While today it might be a violin, the executive envisions it could extend to real estate in the future.
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While NFTs are used in physical asset…
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