A neighborhood fund buys and improves buildings, tokenizes 35% of the gain for the people who live there, and puts it in a wallet that works at the corner store.
Disinvested neighborhoods are priced as if nothing will change. When investment finally arrives, the gain goes to outside buyers and long-time residents get priced out.
Source: Institute for Housing Studies, DePaul University.
CommonBlock's bet: if residents own part of the rise, they help drive it instead of resisting it. A safer, busier, more desirable neighborhood is good for everyone, including the investors.
A $10M fund buys ~$16.7M of South Shore apartment and mixed-use buildings off a suppressed basis, puts ~$4M into renovation, and backs ~$13M more through advances to local owners. Held ten years with ordinary bank debt, it is worth about $32M at sale: ~$11.3M of appreciation above cost.
The Community Trust holds 35% of the appreciation and issues it as Wealth tokens on Solana: one identical token per resident household, granted, not sold. Each token is a claim on real buildings, credited quarterly as they appreciate and never clawed back. The rules live in the token: who can hold it, how much can be drawn against it, and that any deal on these rails carries the residents' share.
Next to Wealth sits Spend, a dollar stablecoin that works like cash at participating local retailers. Harvest turns up to 60% of marked Wealth into Spend today, as an advance repaid only from the resident's own share at the sale. Merchants settle in seconds at 1.25% and can lend the money back through Harvest Notes.
Move the two assumptions that matter most and watch where the value lands. Everything below is an illustrative model calibrated to CommonBlock's full fund model at the base case.
One granted stake. It is marked conservatively every quarter (the appraisal less an 8% reserve, no credit for a lower exit cap until the sale), so what a resident sees during the hold is below what the stake pays at the end. Harvest lets them draw against it early.
Value earned on the block is spent on the block and lent back to the block. Each turn of the loop is a transaction that would otherwise have gone to a card network, a payday lender or a landlord outside the neighborhood.
35% of the gain is credited to residents as Wealth.
Spending locally costs 4.5% against 7% to cash out, so the cheaper path keeps money in the neighborhood.
Instant settlement at 1.25% instead of ~3% card fees, on one network across every CommonBlock neighborhood.
Spend received, and resident savings, can buy Harvest Notes: a 5% senior claim that funds the next neighbor's advance.
Advances and Notes are repaid from the resident pool; savers keep the rest.
The foundation's PRI takes the first loss. Community investors sit behind it. Residents put in nothing and can lose nothing. Drag the exit value to see who absorbs a fall.
| Puts in | Receives | Puts at risk | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residents (5,385 households) | Nothing. Residency is the qualification. | One identical Wealth token: 35% of appreciation above cost, credited quarterly, never clawed back. Harvest up to 60% early. | Nothing |
| Community investors (~1,465) | $5M, from $500 to $20,000 each | Rent, refinance proceeds and 65% of appreciation, net of fees: ~13.1% a year, 3.4x | Their capital, behind the PRI |
| Foundation PRI | $5M, first loss | Principal plus 2%, capped; no share of the resident pool; recycled into the next fund | First loss |
| Local merchants | Accept Spend | Instant settlement at 1.25% instead of ~3% card fees; Harvest Notes at 5% | Nothing |
| Building owners | A building and 20% of its future gain | Improvement capital of ~5% of value; keep title, cash flow and 80% of the upside | Nothing beyond the shared gain |
| CommonBlock | Sponsorship, the platform, a 1% GP commitment | Market fund fees, promote, merchant fee; nothing from the resident pool | GP commitment, startup capital |
| Accredited investors | Deal-by-deal capital, only with the 35% slice minted in | Deal tokens on normal terms: 20% promote over an 8% pref, ~11.4% | Their own capital |
One company with two jobs: it sponsors and manages the funds, and it owns the platform (the wallet, the marks, Harvest, the merchant network). About 90% of funds are CommonBlock-sponsored; 10% are licensed to CDFIs, community development corporations, chambers of commerce and block clubs.
It needs about $1.5M to reach self-sufficiency: a $1.0M foundation PRI at 2% and a $0.5M family-office note at 6% with a 5% warrant, plus $100K from the founder. Both are repaid from cash flow by year 10, and the foundation can roll its money into new funds' first-loss matches. Planned as a public benefit corporation, with a board of the founder as chair, a CEO, three independent directors and a foundation observer.
A $5M first-loss PRI for the South Shore pilot fund, and $1.5M of company startup capital.
A CEO to run the company and three independent directors: real estate and finance, legal and compliance, community. The founder stays as executive chair.
Securities, PRI and private benefit, consumer lending, stablecoin payments, prize-linked savings, Opportunity Zones, the Trust's tax position.
The full materials behind this page. All are September 2026 working drafts.
The story in 16 slides plus an appendix: problem, solution, how a fund works, the rails, protection, the company and what we're looking for.
The full design with the reasoning behind it: the fund, the token, Harvest and Spend, the circular economy, fees, the company, governance and the questions for counsel.
For advisors and counsel: settled decisions and why, the disclosed downside, open questions, what needs real South Shore data, and next steps.
Michael Kelley, founder