Mexico to use Blockchain for Land Registration in Partnership with Overstock

Overstock’s land registration subsidiary will be working with the municipality of Tulum in Quintana Roo in Mexico to develop a land registration platform, as reported by Nasdaq, February 4, 2019.

Medici in Mexico

Blockchain has previously been used for land registration in the United Kingdom by the government, and now the same application will be used in Mexico after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Mexican government and Overstock’s Land registration division on February 4, 2019.

As a result of this agreement, a digital platform will be developed to collect land registration data and issue certificates to public landowners. This platform will be developed as a partnership between Medici Land Governance (MLG) and the municipality of Tulum in Quintana Roo. With time, the platform will also be involved in the automatic storage of public land transactions such as transfer of ownership.

Easing the Process

This new partnership will help in the organization of the land registration process saving time and energy and preventing disputes.

Víctor Mas Tah, mayor of the municipality of Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico said:

“The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding between the Municipality of Tulum and Medici Land Governance represents the beginning of a new territorial ordering stage for the digitalization of land ownership and related processes,”

Land ownership is one of the most complex parts of public life as oftentimes, transfers of ownership are not properly documented and as such, it is not uncommon to see disputes over land ownership last months and even years. This is why land registration has been so heavily embraced by world governments such as New South Wales and even Zambia who signed a similar memorandum of understanding with MLG.

At the time, a press release wrote:

“Without formal ownership, individuals struggle to obtain access to credit and public services, while governments are limited in their ability to collect taxes, enforce property rights, and plan for economic expansion and innovation,”

There is also a benefit to the governments themselves; by having a secure land registration process, they have access to better international opportunities and can easily attract investors. This belief has been backed up by Medici Land Governance CEO, Ali El Husseini, who said:

“Mexico’s adoption of advanced technology in their land registry will increase opportunities for individuals to strengthen their connections to the global economy through rightful ownership of land.”