Sweden's Blockchain Land Registry to Begin Testing in March

A public-private effort in Sweden to record land titles on a blockchain is set to begin public testing this March.

Spearheaded by the Swedish National Land Survey and blockchain startup ChromaWay, the project was revealed in June to have support from consulting firm Kairos Future and telephone service provider Telia. Now, the project is moving ahead with the addition of two banks that specialize in mortgages, Landshypotek and SBAB, CoinDesk has learned.

ChromaWay CEO Henrik Hjelte said that the sandbox release would seek to test the platform from a business, legal and security perspective, while allowing the public to test the interface and back-end.

"The system will not be connected to live data in March yet, but it will demonstrate what it would look like if it were to be populated with real data and integrated into the different actors' services," Hjelte told CoinDesk.

He added that, at that point, more users from differing backgrounds are expected to join the effort, stating:

"We will invite regulators, governmental agencies and other actors in the space to review the platform and blockchain technology to provide feedback on the project from a legal, business and technical standpoint."

The goal, he said, is to then open source the project at a later date.

When launched, the project could be the first working example of an idea that has long captured the public's imagination.

Since 2015, various governments, including Honduras and Georgia, have been said to be considering such systems, though none has seen large-scale testing.

Fence mending

Before launch, however, Hjelte said there's more work to be done.

Of note is that he said there are differences between SBAB and Landshypotek's systems that now need to be translated to a common blockchain system.

For the trial, the blockchain will be based on ChromaWay's technology, which participants had previously said will provide transparency and privacy to the shared registry.

"We are looking to mend those pain points in the sandbox application that will be released in March," he continued.

Hjelte concluded:

"Right now we are finalizing the property transaction contract, which structure will keep improving as we get more feedback from the different actors."

Agricultural land image via Shutterstock