POWER TECHNOLOGY
Tracking Down EquityCoin: The First Digital Token on the Blockchain Backed by Affordable Housing
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quityCoin, Inc was founded as a public benefit corporation. It created the first digital token on blockchain technology backed by affordable housing. What the company does is that it provides apartments to those who are most vulnerable to homelessness while also helping the community members to build generational wealth through fractional ownership of the property. 16 | APRIL 2022
PHOTO FROM BLACKENTERPRISE.COM
The first time we mentioned EquityCoin in this magazine was in 2021 when we were doing a profile of its founder, Vernon J. Its been a year now and we want to track the progress he has made with the coin seeing that its different from all others in that it allows people to purchase and retain their rights over real estate properties. According to Vernon, “on any given night in America, there are over 500,000 people sleeping on the streets even though studies show that increasing access to permanent housing has the potential to reduce homelessness by 50%. This is the crisis of our time, and we need more public and private programs that can directly address this basic necessity.”
Vernon is a commercial real estate professional and an investor with more than 16 years of experience. He launched EquityCoin in January 2021 after renting one of his units to a single mom and son who were living in a shelter. “I saw tears of joy in her eyes when I handed her the keys to her new unit. Never before that moment had I felt such
