While Bitcoin has made extraordinary gains in terms of mainstream acceptance in the last year, one area where the cryptocurrency continues to struggle is in the real estate sector. The coming new year, however, could prove to be the year in which real estate and Bitcoin finally form a merger.

More Secure, Streamlined Property Transfer Records

In fact, many people already believe that the blockchain technology behind the cryptocurrency could provide a number of benefits over traditional methods for real estate record keeping. Should the real estate industry adopt blockchain technology, it could be possible to save significant amounts of money. Currently, the real estate industry spends a massive amount of money on title insurance and the prevention of title fraud. By placing property titles in the blockchain, the real estate industry could finally move into the 21st century while potentially saving billions of dollars.

Criminals have always been adept at create fraudulent documents for nefarious purposes, and that is no less true in the real estate industry than any other industry. All it takes is a program like Photoshop and a stamp for criminals to create the documents necessary to transfer ownership of a property. The blockchain technology used for tracking financial transactions involving Bitcoin could potentially provide a much more secure system for tracking property ownership records. It would be far more difficult for criminals to break the cryptography utilized in the blockchain.

Solutions Still Needed to Integrate Real Estate Record Keeping in the Blockchain

The International Bitcoin Real Estate Association is already working on potential solutions that would help to streamline and secure the property transfer process. Among potential solutions is the use of a colored coin similar to the solution currently used by Overstock and NASDAQ. That solution, combined with the ability to upload deeds to the blockchain, could soon completely transform how property transfers are conducted.

Naturally, one of the first questions that pops to mind when discussing property transfer in terms of Bitcoin is how such solutions might be adopted by governments. Honduras is already making use of Bitcoin technology for the transfer of land titles. Even so, there is nothing preventing investors and even real estate companies from utilizing blockchain technology for record keeping purposes without the need for government agencies to step in. Doing so could help the real estate industry as a whole to avoid many of the problems associated with the current government system used for real estate record keeping purposes.

At its core, the technology behind Bitcoin offers an efficient and streamlined system for various parties to arrive at an agreement regarding the ownership of an asset. Essentially, this is also what is at the heart of real estate record keeping. While advocates of the cryptocurrency community have found that Bitcoin offers many benefits over fiat currency, the blockchain technology behind it is certainly not just limited to monetary transactions, and could soon be integrated in the real estate industry, as well.