Sweden's Land Registry Demos Live Transaction on a Blockchain

Sweden's land registry authority and a group of participating banks, businesses and startups have completed the third phase of an ongoing blockchain pilot.

It was announced Friday that the Lantmäteriet has passed the testing checkpoint with the aid of a number of partners. These include financial firms SBAB Bank and Landshypotek, blockchain startup ChromaWay, tech consultancy Kairos Future, real estate search portal Svensk Fastighetsförmedling, telecom Telai Sverige and IT firm Evry.

The group of companies, in sum, provided different elements that, combined, formed the components of the blockchain pilot. For example, Telia and Evry helped verify a live transaction between a buyer and a seller, according to statements. A live demonstration conducted this week included client-side verification of government-approved digital signatures and the final exporting of necessary legal contracts.

Those involved with the initiative said that the smart contract which facilitated the transaction is compliant with European Union laws and regulations, including the GDPR privacy rules.

ChromaWay chief executive Henrik Hjelte said in a statement that "in a distributed environment such as a blockchain, you cannot have a central server for verifying identities, it all has to be based on signatures and verified by the user."

Project lead Jörgen Modin added:

"Although the project uses centralized ID services, that is those approved by the government, in a blockchain environment these signatures must be put under the same scrutiny as everything else, and hence we do verify in each and every client all the way up to the root certificate."

The project began early last year, when the Lantmäteriet authorized the partnership with ChromaWay and other firms to explore how private blockchains can carry out property transactions, as previously reported by CoinDesk.

Photo of demonstration courtesy of ChromaWay