Bitcoin Global News (BGN)

March 20, 2018 -- ADVFN Crypto NewsWire -- Ethereum was used to establish another milestone last week: the blockchain recording of a real estate deed in the U.S. The Ethereum blockchain, which can be used for a variety of purposes besides ether transactions, was used to record a real estate deed at City Hall in South Burlington, Vermont.

The state of Vermont and its municipalities have been early to the game in establishing a pro-cryptocurrency legal landscape. The pilot program that made the Ethereum-enabled deed record possible was developed jointly by Vermont’s lawmakers in the capital city of Montpelier, the city clerk’s office in South Burlington, and Propy Inc.

Propy (propy.com) allows buyers, sellers, brokers, escrow agents, title agents, and notaries to come together on a legally valid ledger of record for real estate transactions. Propy's smart contract technology invites and tracks the respective participants in the transaction, manages relevant information for escrow services, and then creates the deed record using its "PRO" tokens.

Propy said in a statement: “We believe this historic action will become a global standard and begin a domino effect for the rest of the country. Much bureaucratic effort was required to prepare for the very first blockchain transaction, but this first deal makes it significantly easier for the rest of the 49 states to iterate the process.”

The success of the transaction is expected to encourage real estate brokers across the U.S. to be more willing to transact deals using cryptocurrency and blockchain. Fee-free blockchain transactions could be settled in minutes instead of the days or weeks typically necessary to record a deed.

Michael Schirling of Vermont's Agency of Commerce and Community Development said in a statement: “Blockchain technology in real estate transactions is emblematic of Vermont’s long history of innovating business, insurance, and financial technology. We are fortunate to have a cutting-edge statutory framework that enables the use of blockchain technology, and we will continue to work with the legislature to ensure Vermont remains at the forefront of these innovations.”

According to CoinMarketCap at the time of writing, the Propy’s PRO cryptocurrency was valued at around $0.70 per token with a market cap of approximately $12 million.

By: BGN Editorial Staff