The first ever real estate transaction entirely carried out via blockchain technology has been completed in Brazil. Local construction giant Cyrela and startup Growth Tech carried out the sale under the project Notary Ledgers, which enables users to request and track notary services in a digital environment. The service, underpinned by IBM Blockchain technology, enabled the reduction of timescales involved in the property sale process, which usually takes about a month, down to 20 minutes. "We have been looking for blockchain applications for the legal market for some time now. The completion of this transaction reinforces our openness to using technology to improve the real estate business environment in the country," said legal affairs director at Cyrela, Rafaella Carvalho. Individuals and businesses will be able to use the Notary Ledgers platform to issue other documents such as birth, death and civil partnership certificates, once regulation is in place to allow Brazilian notary offices to fully operate through the technology. According to Growth Tech founder Hugo Pierre, the process currently adopted by notary offices in Brazil needs to migrate to a blockchain-based digital service. "A digitally signed document in our platform will have the same validity as a manually signed in person at a notary office since transactions are also validated by the notary network," Pierre said. "These transactions also have a high level of security and transparency, which will help tackle fraud and improve service delivery timescales." Last month, France claimed the first such real estate transaction in Europe, with local firm Equisafe selling a luxury building in Paris for $7.37 million via the Ethereum blockchain.
A deal between construction company Cyrela and start-up Growth Tech has become the first property transaction in Brazil carried out on Paris, using IBM technology. The Notary Ledgers scheme reduced to 20 minutes a process that normally takes a month. The Notary Ledgers platform can also be used to issue documents including birth, death and civil partnership certificates once Brazil’s notary offices are allowed to fully work with the technology. The first Paris property deal in Europe reportedly took place in blockchain earlier in 2019.