PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Propy, a global real estate store with a decentralized title registry, today announced the execution of the first comprehensive blockchain-recorded property deal in California. The Bitcoin-to-Bitcoin sale of 10 acres of land in Southern California was processed through Propy's Transaction Platform. Every step of the conveyance was executed via Ethereum smart contracts, marking this as the first fully-recorded blockchain transaction in California.
A California licensed realtor, Kate Fomina, represented both Luke Carriere, the buyer, and Diana Dominguez, the seller. Carriere paid Dominguez in BTC for 10 acres of vacant land in Kern County, California. When the transaction began, Fomina was located in Hong Kong, Carriere was in New York, Dominguez was in Northern California, and the escrow agent was in the San Francisco Bay Area. Almost the entire cross-border purchase process occurred online through Propy’s Transaction Platform. The title deed was recorded on the Propy Blockchain Title Registry and on the public Ethereum blockchain.
The property deal in California is the first complete transaction fully-executed on the Propy Transaction Platform, where every step was initiated by smart contracts and respectively recorded on the blockchain registry. The transaction was anchored and verifiable on distributed ledger technology, which gives complete security to the deal. By using smart contracts, Propy guarantees that the flow of transactions is executed according to regional regulations.
“We believe that blockchain technology can truly revolutionize the real estate purchasing process and the management of public records,” said Natalia Karayaneva, CEO of Propy. “Propy streamlines a complicated process into a simple online transaction, and we’ve seen significant traction in the industry already — buyers and sellers are increasingly turning to blockchains and cryptocurrencies. We’re excited to facilitate more property transactions, and reach more milestones in our goal to automate the real estate industry via blockchains.”
Transactions executed on the Propy Transaction Platform are legally binding, provide additional proof of ownership, and safeguard the transfer of ownership via traditional legal instruments. The Propy Blockchain Title Registry is available for deed recording by any customer, broker, or title agent wishing to duplicate the encrypted information on the globally distributed Ethereum network. High demand is observed and acts as a driver for this service as the international community is eager for an additional safeguard for property records from hacking, corruption, or natural disasters.
In California, the first deeds were recorded by Propy on the Blockchain in May and June; the San Francisco Recording office holds a deed containing blockchain information. An additional three deeds were recorded in Alameda County. These came from fiat transactions and were the first blockchain-recorded and blockchain data containing deeds in those counties. Propy plans to partner with private organizations and governments worldwide to make distributed ledger technology a standard for storing public data.
About Propy
Propy is the world’s first international real estate platform aimed at solving the problems of purchasing property remotely. Propy facilitates connections between the seller, buyer, realtors, title agent and/or notary to enable the seamless purchase of real estate online. The Silicon Valley-based company is advised by Alain Pinel (Intero Real Estate), Michael Arrington (founder of TechCrunch), Vinny Lingham (CEO of Civic), David Cowan (Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners), Daniel Kottke (first Apple employee), and Bruce Cahan (Consulting Professor at Stanford University).