Key takeaways:
- Bergen Country signed a five-year agreement to tokenize 370K property deeds worth $240 billion, the largest initiative of its kind in the U.S.
- The project is expected to cut deed processing time by 90% and improve security using Avalanche blockchain.
- Governments are increasingly adopting blockchain for both records and real estate investment.
- Avalanche is gaining traction as the go-to infrastructure for large-scale public and private deployments.
- In a similar move, Dubai launched MENA’s first tokenized property platform via Prypco Mint on May 25.
Bergen County, New Jersey, has signed a five-year agreement with blockchain firm Balcony to digitize and tokenize 370,000 of its property deeds, representing approximately $240 billion in real estate value. The project marks the largest blockchain-based deed tokenization effort in the United States to date.
According to the company’s announcement, the platform will be used to create a tamper-proof, fully digitized ledger of property records across the county.
Powered by Avalanche, Balcony’s system will enable faster, more accurate, and easily searchable documentation. Additionally, the transition is expected to cut deed processing times by over 90% and significantly reduce risks related to fraud, title disputes, and administrative errors.
According to the company’s announcement, the platform will be used to create a tamper-proof, fully digitized ledger of property records across the county. Leveraging the Avalanche blockchain, Balcony’s system will streamline documentation by making it faster, more accurate, and easily searchable.
The transition is also expected to reduce deed processing times by over 90% while significantly minimizing risks of fraud, title disputes, and administrative errors.
Why Public Records Are Moving On-Chain
Bergen County is New Jersey’s most populous county, with nearly one million residents and over $500 million in annual property tax revenue. By shifting to a blockchain-based system, county officials aim to increase the efficiency and reliability of land record management while improving data access for both residents and local agencies.
Tokenization also plays a key role in strengthening cybersecurity, offering a safeguard against the growing threats facing legacy government systems.
According to the report, in 2024, 72% of ransomware attacks on state and local agencies demanded payouts of over $1 million. By utilizing blockchain’s immutable and decentralized design, the project enhances the security, integrity, and resilience of public records.
A County-by-County Transformation
In addition to Bergen, Balcony is working with other municipalities, including Camden, Orange, Morristown, Cliffside Park, and Fort Lee. In Orange, the platform identified nearly $1 million in previously uncollected municipal revenue due to fragmented or outdated data.
Why Avalanche?
According to the company, the Avalanche blockchain was selected for its ability to handle large data volumes with low latency, high throughput, and strong security, making it well-suited for a project of this scale. Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo, Chief Strategy Officer at Ava Labs, noted that Avalanche’s infrastructure was built specifically for enterprise-grade applications, such as land record tokenization.
Beyond government use, Avalanche is also gaining traction among global organizations.
Earlier this month, in partnership with Modex, FIFA moved its official digital collectibles platform, FIFA Collect, from the Algorand blockchain to Avalanche’s custom subnet technology. The switch is said to improve speed and scalability while enabling full compatibility with widely used Ethereum tools, such as MetaMask.
From Deeds to Investment: A Global Shift in Property Infrastructure
This move comes just days after the Dubai Land Department, in coordination with multiple national regulators and Prypco Mint, launched the MENA region’s first tokenized real estate investment initiative through the Prypco platform. The pilot, which went live on May 25, enables UAE residents to invest in fractional shares of Dubai properties, underscoring a global shift toward blockchain-based real estate infrastructure across both investment and recordkeeping domains.
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