HOUSINGNEWS REPORT
HOW BLOCKCHAIN COULD TRANSFORM PROPERTY RECORD TRANSPARENCY
The blockchain solution for titles and land registration ultimately provides an objective system to manage land ownership rights. These benefits have led to governments exploring blockchain solutions. Sweden is currently adopting blockchain solutions for its land registration system. The Ukrainian and Russian governments are also exploring blockchains to provide transparency and trust in the land registry as well.
was completed in Ukraine last September. The transaction was executed through a smart contract from the buyer: an Orange County, California, buyer transferred digital currency to the seller and the seller handled the transfer of titles recorded to both digitally on the Ukrainian land registry blockchain and on paper. The paper title even has a link pointing to the digital blockchain address on it. On the data side, local county recorder’s offices are already considering moving to the blockchain.
Property records are already transactional and fit to the blockchain very naturally. The main benefit for recorder’s offices right now is a secure way to digitally back up their records. The Cook County (Illinois) Recorder office just completed a pilot program to test the digitizing of its documents and moving onto a blockchain. This test was an effort to find a solution that will reduce the costs of having to physically store documents and hiring people to maintain all those documents. Despite all the excitement around Bitcoin and blockchain right now, they are both relatively new and most efforts to utilize them are exploratory at best. But the technology is here to stay and will transform the real estate industry. From the sale processes being faster and more streamlined to more cost-efficient ways of recording transactions, the future is bright.
A purchase and ownership transfer of a property through only blockchains
“Despite all the excitement around Bitcoin and blockchain right now, they are both relatively new and most efforts to utilize them are exploratory at best. But the technology is here to stay and will transform the real estate industry.”
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FEBRUARY 2018 | ATTOM DATA SOLUTIONS
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