How easy is it to apply AI into a business with the aim of transforming it? OFA Group is an integrated architectural technology firm transforming design with proprietary and open-source AI-powered tools and scalable services. To learn more about this area of business strategy, Digital Journal spoke with Thomas Gaffney, Chief Operating Officer at OFA Group (NASDAQ: OFAL).
Digital Journal: Can you provide a brief background on OFA Group?
Thomas Gaffney: OFA Group is a Los Angeles-based company leveraging AI and cryptocurrency to revolutionize architecture and design planning. The Company has a heritage rooted in architecture, design, and urban development. We began as Office for Fine Architecture, a Hong Kong–based firm with a track record of delivering sophisticated, high-end residential and commercial projects across Asia. For decades, we built a reputation for balancing visionary design with functionality, ensuring our projects stood out for their creativity while still meeting the highest standards of safety and usability.
But over time, we recognized that architecture doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Buildings sit within financial ecosystems, regulatory frameworks, and community needs. That realization led us to further expand our scope. Today, as a public company, we have relocated our headquarters to Los Angeles, and we are no longer just a design firm, we are an innovation platform. My role as COO is to help guide that evolution: integrating our architectural foundation with new technologies like AI and blockchain, while also structuring our company to operate in capital markets.
It’s about carrying forward our design DNA while positioning OFA as a forward-looking enterprise that addresses systemic issues in housing affordability, construction efficiency, and access to capital.
DJ: How is OFA leveraging AI to streamline workflows and transform traditional architectural processes?
Gaffney: One of the biggest challenges in architecture is that much of the work is still extremely manual and sequential. Drafting, compliance reviews, and project management take time, and all of these steps involve layers of human input and review, which add cost and risk of error. AI allows us to rethink that paradigm.
Our proprietary AI tools are looking to automate many of these processes. For instance, building code compliance, which used to take weeks of back-and-forth with regulators, can now be checked instantly against a database of regulations. Drafting tasks that were traditionally labor-intensive can be completed in a fraction of the time. When it comes to design iteration, AI enables us to generate multiple alternatives and simulations on the spot, so clients can make informed decisions far earlier in the process.
We’re also applying AI to risk assessment in critical areas like wildfire-resistant housing. With climate change reshaping risk profiles, it’s no longer enough to design for the present; we need to anticipate how structures will handle stress. AI models can simulate those scenarios at scale, helping us integrate resilience from day one.
The deeper value of AI isn’t just in efficiency gains. It’s about giving architects back their creative bandwidth by giving them back more of their time. When routine and repetitive tasks are automated, architects can focus more on vision, storytelling, and client needs. That combination of efficiency and creativity is what we believe can define the future of architecture.
DJ: What makes OFA’s AI-driven approach different from other players in the architecture technology space?
Gaffney: Many architecture firms are experimenting with AI, but often, it’s a side project, something they’re adding onto existing workflows. OFA’s approach is fundamentally different because AI isn’t supplemental for us; it’s the central focus. We’re building our business model around AI, not bolting it on.
What truly differentiates us is the integration of three domains: architectural expertise, advanced technology, and financial structuring. Architecture on its own can’t scale innovation fast enough, and finance on its own doesn’t address the real-world needs of communities. By combining these, OFA is creating a model where AI doesn’t just help design better buildings, it also supports better financial and operational outcomes.
This approach also positions us to innovate in areas like mortgage finance and digital assets, where design, technology, and capital markets intersect. In other words, we’re not just using AI to make architecture faster, we’re using it to rethink the relationship between architecture, housing, and the financial systems that sustain them.
DJ: The company also recently launched a digital asset strategy. Can you discuss your strategy and recent announcements in this area?
Gaffney: In August 2025, we launched our digital asset treasury strategy, which we view as a foundational step in aligning blockchain with architecture and housing. For us, this isn’t about speculation, it’s about building practical applications.
At a high level, the strategy diversifies our balance sheet, optimizes capital efficiency, and opens up new avenues for financing. But where it gets exciting is the real-world application, with one of the most promising initiatives being the tokenization of mortgages using real-world asset (RWA) tokens. By putting mortgages on-chain, we can increase transparency, reduce transaction costs, and streamline processes that have traditionally been bogged down by intermediaries. That has the potential to reshape how capital flows into housing finance.
We’re also piloting covered-call strategies in Bitcoin, Solana, and other digital assets, executed through institutional partners. This ensures we’re managing exposure with discipline and compliance, and not taking unnecessary risks. Our philosophy is to treat digital assets with the same rigor we apply to any financial instrument.
What sets us apart is that we’re not just dabbling in digital assets to ride a trend; we’re embedding blockchain into our broader mission. We want to demonstrate how architecture and housing can directly benefit from blockchain’s efficiency, transparency, and programmability. It’s about creating a bridge between the built environment and digital finance, a vision we’re bringing to life with our recently announced Real Estate Equity and Mortgage RWA Platform, co-developed with Blockchain App Factory. This AI + Web3-powered initiative will tokenize and fractionalize real estate equity and mortgage assets, setting a new standard for how investors engage with housing and digital finance.
DJ: What are your biggest goals for the next year?
Gaffney: We’ve set three major priorities for the next 12 months, each tied to our mission of transforming architecture through technology and finance.
The first is scaling our AI tools. We’re moving from internal deployment to broader commercialization, which means partnering with architectural firms, developers, and potentially municipalities. The goal is to position OFA’s AI platform as an essential tool for industry, not just our own individual projects.
The second is U.S. expansion through M&A. We’re actively evaluating opportunities to acquire or partner with firms that can expand our housing and design footprint. This isn’t growth for growth’s sake; it’s about building the capabilities and reach we need to address critical issues like housing shortages and affordability.
The third is continuing to develop our digital asset treasury with disciplined oversight. This includes expanding pilot programs in mortgage-related financing and exploring blockchain applications that align with our strengths. By doing so, we aim to not only strengthen our balance sheet but also prove that blockchain can have tangible, positive impacts on housing and real estate.
Taken together, these initiatives are designed to expand our revenue base, strengthen market positioning, and, more importantly, redefine what it means to be an architecture firm in the 21st century. We believe the industry’s future lies at the intersection of design, technology, and capital, and OFA is committed to leading the way.
