“Blockchain technology will not only affect financial markets. From now on, blockchain technology will also impact real estate transactions, smart city planning, and other areas in the real estate industry,” said CEO of Bitcoin.com Roger Ver in an interview with Korea Economic Daily on July 20th.
Ver is an early investor of bitcoin, and has been an influential figure throughout the establishment of blockchain ecosystem. He has invested in blockchain-related start-ups such as cryptocurrency Ripple and crypto exchange Kraken among others.
Ver will participate in Real Estate Blockchain Expo 2018 (RBE 2018) as a keynote speaker; RBE 2018 will take place on September 19 – 21, 2018 at COEX A Hall, Samseong-dong, Seoul, Korea, and will introduce the potential convergence between real estate market and blockchain technology.
Ver said:
“Blockchain technology can innovatively decrease the transaction costs, and has much potential to be used inside the real estate market.” The use of blockchain technology itself can increase transaction security without the need of taking any additional outside measures to make a transaction secure.
Blockchain records a certain number of transactions that has taken place during a specific period, and verifies and records the transactions into a block. Since a new record inside a block is always connected to a previous block, it is nearly impossible to manipulate the data.
Ver explained:
“In the United States, every real estate transaction is required to have a title insurance, which is very costly, to avoid any potential conflicts between buyers and sellers. The implementation of blockchain technology into a real estate transaction will eliminate the need for a title insurance.”
The CEO of the cryptocurrency trading platform believes that cryptocurrencies are not an alternative investment tool to real estate investment, but a complimentary investment tool. He noted:“In the United States and Europe, real estate mortgage financing products that use cryptocurrencies as collateral have already been created and that “cryptocurrencies can act to replace the role of fiat money and escrow services in a real estate transaction.”
Ver also projected that blockchain technology will play a big role in smart city developments in future.
Ver said:
“Blockchain technology can blend into our everyday lives alongside the Internet of Things. In the United States and the Switzerland, there have already been cases in which people pay electricity bills and property tax by using cryptocurrency. As blockchain technology continues its development, much more transactions will be processed faster, and there is a great potential for its use in a variety of ways.”
He pointed out that the biggest hurdle that prevents the implementation of blockchain technology into many different areas including real estate is not its technological capability, but regulatory issues.
“In most countries, real estate industry is not following up with the speed of technological innovation,” he said, arguing: “For blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to be widely used, old regulation rules must be changed.
