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In this episode, Josh Kriger sits down with Michael Healy, CEO and co-founder of Unit Network. With roots dating to 2010’s early crypto scene, Michael shares how Unit’s platform is doing more than fractionalizing bonds—it’s empowering everyday businesses and creators through RWA tokenization. Imagine tokenizing a solar plant, a music event, or even funding a farmer’s seeds for as little as $100. Unit Network’s growing footprint spans Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Eastern Europe—where financial inclusion is more than a phrase. This episode is a masterclass on turning tokenization into tangible change and redefining public ownership beyond traditional markets.
Key Topics Covered
- Michael's journey to RWA and crypto roots
Early adopter in crypto, iPhone/Android app development, founder of Unit Network to democratize tokenized capital. - RWA Tokenization beyond TradFi assets
Focus on tokenizing small businesses, local ventures, and communities, unlocking fundraising for micro-economies globally. - Fractional ownership & financial inclusion
Enabling individuals worldwide to invest in real-world projects from $40–$100, creating wealth participation beyond elite tiers. - Unit Network’s traction and geographic impact
Operating in Indonesia, Philippines, East & West Africa, Eastern Europe; 50,000 users, 1,300 assets tokenized. - Unit ecosystem expansion
Launching Unit Drive (Uber-like), Unit Music, Unit Stay (Airbnb-like), and consolidating under the Unit network.
Episode Highlights
“The big opportunity is tokenizing venture, small businesses, investing in people.” — Michael Healy
“Imagine a farmer in Ethiopia needing $40—five people can send $8 each in USDT or BTC to seed their business.” — Michael Healy
“We have about 50,000 clients, 1,300 assets being tokenized—low-key prep for a huge RWA wave.” — Michael Healy
“Tokenizing a recreational plane, solar power plants, events—assets TradFi doesn’t touch.” — Michael Healy
“We’re releasing apps like Unit Drive, Unit Music, Unit Stay—decentralized versions of everyday platforms.” — Michael Healy
People and Resources Mentioned
- Michael Healy
- Unit Network
- Tokenize Las Vegas / Mike Tyson’s Mansion
About Our Guest
Michael Healy is the co-founder and CEO of Unit Network, a pioneering platform in RWA tokenization, committed to solving wealth inequity by enabling fractional ownership for individuals and small businesses. A seasoned entrepreneur since 2010, Michael created the WikiLeaks mobile app and led successful tech ventures. He’s a Thiel Fellowship finalist, a Math Olympiad Silver medalist, and has guided startups across global markets from his bases in Dubai, London, NYC, and Hong Kong.
Guest Contacts
- Website: https://unit.network
- Twitter: https://x.com/michaelhealyco and https://x.com/theunitnetwork
Transcript:
Josh Kriger: Hi, Voren, welcome back to the Edge of Show, live in Vegas at Tokenize. And actually, we're in Mike Tyson's mansion, which is pretty awesome. Michael Turpin knows where to host a great event. And I'm here with Michael Healy, the CEO of Unit Network. Great to have you on the show, Michael.
Michael Healy: Thank you so much. It's a pleasure.
Josh Kriger: So we've known each other for a while and recently reconnected. You're starting to do something new in the RWA space, which we've talked about in the show. It's a really exciting up-and-coming space. We'll get into that, but maybe just give us a little bit about your background and what got you excited about RWAs.
Michael Healy: For sure. So I've been in the crypto space since 2010. I was an early app developer for the iPhone and Android, built the WikiLeaks mobile app, the government's frozen our bank accounts, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, donation channels in 2010.
Josh Kriger: So crazy, now MasterCard is like rolling out a credit card, right?
Michael Healy: What a difference 15 years can bring. And then that got me into Bitcoin at 9 cents a Bitcoin, was an early investor in Ethereum, Solana, BNB, built a video conferencing app, had a few million users, sold it in 2013. the biggest VC in Europe, you'll see the message on Spotify. And what I saw was that there was a big opportunity to use crypto as a means of fundraising and capital formation. If you look at the ICOs of 2017, if you look at NFTs of 2021, crypto and blockchain was amazing for helping people around the world raise capital.
Josh Kriger: Yeah. So many rounds of boxing. We'll use the analogy since we're hanging out with Mike Tyson here. And you know you've gotten to a point where you saw an opportunity with RWAs. It's really interesting because I feel like the idea of factualization has been around for a while. But It wasn't the right regulatory climate. When did you realize that RWAs were going to be the next big thing that you want to put all your energy into?
Michael Healy: So I would say maybe in about 2016, 2017.
Josh Kriger: Oh, OK. So you were thinking about it a while.
Michael Healy: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that's the killer use case with blockchain and crypto and tokenization. I think the way people still think about real assets at the moment is they think about tokenizing bonds or treasuries or traditional financial assets. And I think the big opportunity is the thing that TradFi doesn't care about, you know, venture, small businesses, investing in people. And that's primarily what we're focused on. Because I think wrapping traditional financial assets in a crypto marketing layer is interesting. The big opportunity is tokenizing the long term, you know, hundreds of millions of businesses, billions of people around the world.
Josh Kriger: Yeah, I mean, essentially what you're talking about here is giving every business some of the positive attributes of being a publicly traded company.
Michael Healy: Absolutely.
Josh Kriger: I mean, that's what it sounds like it comes down to.
Michael Healy: Absolutely. Much earlier stage than how the time at which publicly traded companies typically go on the stock market, getting customers and employees to be stakeholders, having much more transparency.
Josh Kriger: Does that come with some risk around volatility? I mean, you know, we've seen what small market coins trade at in our industry. They go up very fast. Unpredictably. You know, a small business has you know, a negative story come out. Are they at risk if they sort of tokenize their business in terms of facing sort of some of the stress of being a public company without the resources?
Michael Healy: It's a great question. I mean, I think the reason why we see such speculation and volatility in the current crypto market is a lack of fundamental value and being able to determine what a fair valuation is. We saw it similarly with the Internet, the early Internet, the early like iPhone apps, right? Instagram got bought for a billion dollars and people thought that was crazy. Now it's valued at hundreds of billions and people think it's very normal, right? So I see the same with tokenization. I think crypto is just so early and small compared to where it's going. For me, I think it's the most exciting opportunity in the world.
Josh Kriger: So but for a small business, tokenizing their business, is that, does that create, you know, risk that we're not prepared for?
Michael Healy: I think it definitely presents a whole new world which people are completely unaware of. I think, you know, we have a big difference between the people who have money in the world and people who don't. The people who have money usually start companies, they invest in things, they're owners in things, and everyone else is a customer employee. And I really think that when you create this token economy, the role and the importance of how money plays a role in decision making will be very different. And I think life will generally improve, the baseline of wealth and equity will be lifted significantly.
Josh Kriger: Is there an opportunity like what Jamestop did where you can offer perks? When the AMC does it, where the investors get certain perks, do you foresee that aspect coming into this tokenization, where participating in the RWA economy, if you're a consumer of your favorite hamburger shop?
Michael Healy: I think that's a great point. That loyalty, that promotional marketing piece is interesting. But I think that's the cherry on the cake. I think what's going to back up token valuations and pricing is the fundamental of the business. Is it generating profit? Does it have a good product with good revenue? And I think that will underpin all tokens in the world. You know, people talk about utility tokens and equity tokens or security tokens or ownership tokens. I think these two are going to converge.
Josh Kriger: Cool.
Michael Healy: So you started Unit Network about when? About 2016, the fundamentals of it. And I think it's been, you know, 10 years of focus on securitization, tokenization.
Josh Kriger: When was the first called Unit Network?
Michael Healy: I think we named it Unit in 2017 or 18.
Josh Kriger: So it's been around, but now you're sort of progressing towards launch.
Michael Healy: Yep, so we have a listing going live on many exchanges very shortly. We've got some incredible partners that we're tokenizing. We have about 50,000 clients, with about 1,300 assets being tokenized. But we've been, as you mentioned, very low-key because of regulatory uncertainty. We've been decentralizing our technology and just preparing for this huge wave to come.
Josh Kriger: Exciting. Break down the geography and demographics of your clients and your consumers.
Michael Healy: So we're very popular in Southeast Asia, places like Indonesia, Philippines, places like East Africa, West Africa, Eastern Europe.
Josh Kriger: So, where can you make a micro-economy difference for small companies?
Michael Healy: Absolutely, where public markets don't really care about or there is no means of raising capital. So we've done things like a solar power plant being tokenized. We've tokenized the first recreational plane in the world. We've done solar power plants. We've done events, shows, conferences, musicians, a whole bunch of case studies that we've been pretty low key about and just sort of refining and improving it. But I really think that what we're doing here could be bigger than Bitcoin or the entire crypto space as we see it now.
Josh Kriger: What is the smallest asset in dollar value that you feel comfortable tokenizing?
Michael Healy: I mean, you know, there could be a small farm in Africa that needs to buy seeds, you know, that could be $100. And I think that's something that you can tokenize that. So imagine you're a farmer in Ethiopia and you need to buy some grain and some tools and you need, you know, 40 US dollars. Now, five people from around the world can give you $8 in USDT or Bitcoin. Now you've got the money and the capital needed to buy those seeds. When you plant some good crops, you can return your earnings and cash flows to those people. And where I see a big opportunity is doing that at scale. So I would love to invest in, you know, a million young people in the world and give them, you know, a few hundred dollars.
Josh Kriger: Yeah, I mean, it can make a huge difference. As long as we keep inflation in check, a hundred dollars doesn't go as far as it used to. I've been doing so much travel and like, you know, I thought the eight dollar coffee was restricted to L.A., but no, this is all over the world. Inflation is impacting things. I guess that like, you know, is another reason where RWAs and tokenization can play a big role.
Michael Healy: I think people don't realize how many people in the world live on under two dollars a day. Out of 8 billion people, there's a lot of people living in poverty. You know, $100, $1,000 can really change people's lives significantly. That's great.
Josh Kriger: Anything else in terms of upcoming milestones, projects, or partnerships you want to mention?
Michael Healy: Absolutely. So we're releasing 25 different apps at the moment. One is like a decentralized Uber called Unit Drive. We're doing Unit Music. It's like a Spotify on chain. We're releasing Unit Stay, which is like an Airbnb booking platform where you can rent out your apartment and receive crypto using a stay coin.
Josh Kriger: And these are different websites, but you can see them all on the Unit Network site.
Michael Healy: That's right.
Josh Kriger: What's the Unit Network site?
Michael Healy: www.unit.network.
Josh Kriger: Cool.
Michael Healy: And UNITCOIN is the ticker.
Josh Kriger: Cool. And if people want to follow Unit Network and you on X, where do they go?
Michael Healy: Unit Network, if you search for Unit Network, or Michael Healy is my handle. We're also being a lot more public now, and we're sponsoring some major events. Looking forward to your event soon.
Josh Kriger: All right, well, Michael, I learned a lot in this conversation. I'm really excited about the future of Uninetwork and RWAs. Thanks for your time today.
Michael Healy: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
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