Propy, Inc., a Silicon Valley property technology (proptech) startup, has announced the completion of two blockchain-recorded property deals in Japan, a first in Asia, the startup said on Thursday. The news marks Propy’s first steps into the Asian market.
The two properties are residential plots of land located in the St. Moritz neighborhood of Niseko, Japan. The properties were purchased using Japanese yen by a group of Hong Kong investors.
Hokkaido Tracks Real Estate was the estate agent in charge of the sale of the properties. Sales and operations manager Paul Butkovich said:
“As I became more familiar with Propy, I soon realized that my sales team could streamline communication with buyers, sellers, and lawyers into one user-friendly online platform. The ability to sign contracts and send value safely and securely is a major advantage Propy possesses when compared with the standard real estate sales process.”
Each step of the transactions was completed on Propy’s
Transaction Platform, a platform aimed at facilitating cross-border deals by
enabling different parties including buyers, sellers, agents, and lawyers, to
communicate and sign contracts securely and conveniently.
The platform, which enables the buying and selling and
properties using major currencies as well as cryptocurrencies, acts as a property
listing site and leverages blockchain technology to allows for ownership rights
to be stored on a decentralized, immutable title registry.
Commenting on the announcement, Propy CEO and founder Natalia
Karayaneva, a real estate professional and a former software engineer, said:
“Our mission is to provide an easier, faster, and more secure way to purchase property.
“We are actively signing up forward-thinking international real estate firms to increase the volume on our Transaction Platform. Hokkaido Tracks Real Estate, led by Paul Butkovich, is an innovator in the Niseko property market, playing a crucial role in displaying the immense benefits that Propy provides to not just agents, but all parties involved.
“These two deals are what we feel are the first of many, as the next-generation of property transactions evolve around the world.”
The first
deeds recorded by Propy on the blockchain were made in May and June 2018
and the San Francisco Recording office holds a deed containing this
information.
Propy recorded
its first property sale in the European Union (EU) in October 2018.
This news comes on the heels of Propy’s recent announcement surrounding their transactions in California that were completed on the blockchain, as well as it launching a pilot program in Vermont to record conveyance documents on its decentralized title registry.