Global property store and decentralized title registry Propy has made the world’s first real estate transaction on the distributed public blockchain network Ethereum.
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington remotely purchased a $60,000 apartment in Kiev, settled via smart contracts and in Ethereum cryptocurrency and PRO (Propy) tokens.
The first-ever cryptocurrency transaction in Ukraine and the first real asset transfer via blockchain, its proponents believe it will open the door for many more remote real estate transactions on the blockchain.
“I’m thrilled to see Propy leading the charge in putting real estate on the blockchain — bringing transparency, efficiency, and security to an industry traditionally fraught with red tape and bureaucracy,” says Propy CEO Natalia Karayaneva.
Ukrainian real estate is very affordable, and the Ukrainian market will soon be growing dynamically, she believes.
“This purchase is an important signal to foreign investors — especially Chinese, who face strict capital controls of $50,000 per person — that they can safely and easily invest in this market and, soon, other countries.”
Arrington’s real estate purchase from Ukrainian developer Mark Ginsburg is the latest in a string of successes for Propy.
The company raised $15 million in a pre-sale and crowdsale of PRO tokens in September — making it one of the 10 highest-earning ICOs this summer.
It also entered into an official partnership with the government of Ukraine, which has agreed to pilot the blockchain title registry.
The partnership — Propy’s first with a foreign government — coincides with new legislation allowing foreign investors to purchase land in Ukraine as of January 1, 2018.
Growing blockchain
By utilizing Ethereum blockchain — a technology that is quickly gaining on the bitcoin blockchain as the blockchain of choice for developers — Propy has taken an important first step in automating real estate purchases on the burgeoning global real estate market.
This is only the beginning, Karayaneva maintains.
“With this transaction, we’ve broken first ground in putting the $217 trillion real estate market on the blockchain.
We’re starting with Ukraine, but over the coming year we plan to facilitate real estate transactions with the use of PRO tokens in California, Vermont, and Dubai.”
Propy is the world’s first international real estate marketplace, aimed at solving the problems of purchasing property across borders.
The Silicon Valley-based company facilitates connections between international entities to enable the seamless purchase of international real estate online.
It is advised by Michael Arrington (founder of TechCrunch), Vinny Lingham (CEO of Civic), David Cowan (Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners), Alain Pinel (Intero Real Estate), Daniel Kottke (formerly of Apple), Mike Costache (Managing Partner at KrowdMentor & d10e), and Jeremy Gardner (EIR at Blockchain Capital).
