Blockchain land transfers: Technology, promises, and perils

• Main Authors: OOI, Vincent, SOH, Kian Peng, SOH, Jerrold
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Blockchain; Land Registration; e-Conveyancing; Internet Law; Property Law and Real Estate; Science and Technology Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3912; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5870/viewcontent/SSRN_id4072348.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The blockchain’s apparent immutability has attracted significant interest on whether it may be relied on for registering and transferring land. Proponents of blockchain-based land systems point toward data security, automated transacting, and improved accessibility as key benefits; critics raise concerns over structural vulnerabilities, such as majority attacks, and inconsistencies with existing legal frameworks. The literature, however, tends to conceptualise blockchain as one monolithic data structure invariably built on the same mechanisms powering Bitcoin. This paper seeks to situate the debate on a closer understanding of the range of blockchain implementations possible. To this end, we provide a detailed technological survey of established and emerging blockchain technologies, clarifying that different consensus mechanisms, permissioning schemes, and other use-based customisations, are possible. We then re-evaluate the promises and perils of blockchain land transfers in this light, focusing on the English conveyancing system, and illustrate how different implementations involve different advantages and limitations. However, the features necessary to avoid key vulnerabilities also diminish the marginal advantages of using blockchains over traditional electronic databases. Thus, we conclude that blockchains, even properly understood, remain unsuitable for land transfers.