If an obligation’s worth rises with rent, occupancy or sale proceeds, it is an investment contract nearly everywhere it is offered. rwa/1 makes that a field rather than a judgement call — so the question is answered on every obligation ever emitted, rather than noticed by somebody later.
reward-performance-linkedAn obligation whose worth rises with rent, occupancy or sale proceeds is an investment contract nearly everywhere it is offered. The field is required on every obligation, so the question is answered every time rather than noticed later — and the one shape that is reliably a security cannot be emitted by accident.
The format carries all four. Three of them may move with the asset, and it takes no position on whether you may offer them — only that they are called what they are. A wrapper does the opposite: it makes an equity-shaped thing look like a coupon.
| kind | performanceLinked | What it is, plainly |
|---|---|---|
| reward | must be false | A loyalty obligation. Fixed in the unit it is denominated in, and worth the same whether the building fills up or empties. The validator refuses one that is not. |
| revenue-share | may be true | A claim on what the asset produces. Almost certainly a security in most places it is offered — the format will carry it and takes no position on whether you may. |
| equity | may be true | An ownership interest. A security nearly everywhere, and named as one rather than dressed as a reward. |
| debt | may be true | A repayment obligation. Regulated as debt is regulated wherever the asset sits. |
The format cannot make a compliant instrument legal and does not try. What it does is narrower and worth something: the one instrument shape that is reliably a security — a reward whose worth rises with the asset’s performance — cannot be emitted by accident, because the flag is required on every obligation and the validator refuses that combination. Everything else it carries and names honestly, which is the opposite of what a wrapper does.
None of this is legal advice, and no reading of a JSON Schema is. Whether a particular instrument may be offered to a particular person in a particular place is a question for your counsel, and the format is built so that the answer is at least askable — the jurisdiction is a required field, the kind is a required field, and the performance link is a required field.
Appraised value, audited financials, custody, title, insurance, environmental and occupancy are refused when the author is the issuer. An appraisal signed by the owner does not validate — so a record that does validate has somebody else’s name on the number.
An expiry is required and must fall after the date the claim is true as of. A record left untouched decays into an empty one rather than presenting a 2019 valuation as current — which is how these records mislead without anybody lying.
The validator has no dependencies and no server. Fetch the file, run the same rules the issuer ran, and reach your own verdict — offline, in a browser, or in a repository that has never heard of us.
A record that validates is well-formed. It is not true. No format can vouch for the claims inside it, and one that implied it could would launder an assertion into a verdict. What a reader gets is narrower and honest: who claims what, as of when, until when, and whether the party making a claim is the party it is about.