Sweden could become the first country to put the country’s land registry on the Blockchain, the Swedish Land Registry said.
With a population of just under 10 million people, it can be hard to keep track of who owns what when it comes to land ownership in Sweden particularly over a period of time, unless some reliable form of record keeping is maintained.
The distributed ledger technology, which happens to be the backbone of Bitcoin, is the perfect solution in keeping track of land ownership, with the Scandinavian country being the latest country looking into how Blockchain can help.
Proof of concept framework
Teaming up with Swedish Blockchain company, ChromaWay, consulting firm Kairos Future, and telecommunications service provider, Telia, they have come up with a proof of concept framework through a Whitepaper and a technical demonstration to determine how the Swedish land registry can reduce manual errors on the Blockchain.
For the proof of concept, Telia’s technology was utilized to confirm the identify of users registered on a new smart contract system developed by ChromaWay. Kairos Future managed the process while the Swedish Land Registry provided feedback and sponsorship for the project. The technical demonstration can be found on ChromaWay’s website.
By introducing Blockchain technology to maintain records, the Swedish government will be able to stop real estate fraud and illegal land grabbing while having the ability to make real-time updates and verification of land ownership simple.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, ChromaWay CEO Henrik Hjelte said that the process of selling a house can take several months, but that with the country’s land registry on the Blockchain this can be reduced to a few days. Not only that, but it cuts the risk of fraud too.
Risks reduced
“Blockchain makes for reduced risks, increased safety and transparency between parties, so it adds a lot of value,” he said. “Without Blockchain a project like this becomes more difficult to do and get all parties to accept.”
Magnus Kempe, Kairos Future senior consultant, told Cointelegraph that the process has many major benefits and it’s hard to believe these will not materialize in Sweden as well as in other countries.
“The technology we have started to develop looks very promising and I believe the main technical structure will be possible to realize,” he said. “It is my hope that we’ll be able to demonstrate a working test environment with the banks and real estate agents by the end of this fall.”
This project by Sweden comes as governments across the world are turning their attention to Blockchain as a way of improving their land registry process.
In April, Bitcoin mining and technology company, BitFury unveiled plans with the National Agency of Public Registry in the Republic of Georgia to develop a Blockchain land registry.
Testing it in a full-sized environment
Mats Snäll, the Development Director of the Swedish Land Registry, says to Cointelegraph that the next step is to to determine whether the Blockchain works in real estate, testing it in a full-sized environment.
“We will do this together with partner organizations and try to look at the whole process of a land and property transaction,” he said. “We hope this may lead us in our decision of a sustainable solution for future systems.”