In many ways, electronic communications dominate the world as we know it. We “talk” through email, text, and social media, to the point that the written letter is almost an anachronism. Still, some areas still thrive on paper. Real estate, for example, depends on paper deeds and documentation to confirm authenticity. Similarly, many corporations depend on paper records to demonstrate regulatory compliance. But blockchain is helping to change all of that. The technology that made Bitcoin work is expanding, in Israel and beyond, to help secure online processes and chains of custody in ways that can help shift paper-dominated fields into the 21st century.
Smart Contracts
When contracts determine payments or other actions, they operate inefficiently. Before you move funds, you have to confirm conditions have been met, organize your information, and perform accordingly.
Smart contracts use blockchain technology to change this. Once information is entered, you move through the conditions required and the contract auto-updates. You can even update a smart will without creating a new will for every change. You complete everything more efficiently, using a cryptography-secured function that prevents problems the paper processes cannot.
Paper Bureaucracies
Similarly, bureaucracies exist to create layers that protect information and ensure fairness and accuracy through process. Blockchain saves time and money by building this in electronically. Imagine a system that once required 12 forms, signed in triplicate to allow a decision to become implemented.
Blockchain technology creates a mechanism by which this process plays out online, all through secured processes. You need not worry about tracking down every person in the chain when something has to be done quickly. Rather, you move forward quickly and efficiently without losing any of the fail-safes in place.
Real Estate
In Israel, you must move through the Land Registry Department, or Tabu, to purchase and register real estate. The property world remains a bastion of paper processes in an electronic world. But the legal functions that have long necessitated paper documentation can adapt to blockchain technology. It creates the security that paper has always done, but with a process that is efficient, transparent, and public. To sell or purchase property, this option can vastly improve on the time currently required.
Blockchain technology is exploding in Israel, with new startups and applications emerging constantly. To learn the ways in which you can navigate the legal landscape in the face of all this change, contact Barnea & Co.
Source: barlaw.co.il