Current Status, Requirements, and Challenges of Blockchain Application in Land Registry

Introduction

A survey conducted by the world bank states that almost 70% of the people do not possess the land title Weizsäcker et al. (2019) Heider and Connelly (2016). However, the land title is an essential part of the economy and necessary element for citizens' social and economic aspects. The land registry system transfers land ownership that protects the stakeholder's rights, increasing trust and confidence. Due to poor coordination between various departments, land title verification requires a physical visit, making it time-consuming and often encourages bribery Krupa and S (2019) B (2018).

The country's available land record system is unclear, mismanaged, and failed to show reality. The other significant land record systems' other significant issues are availability and maintenance and did not guarantee ownership Krupa and S (2019) Thakur et al. (2020). The probable ownership, the transfer of property from generation to generation is not recorded in the land registry system appropriately Panchapagesan (2018). By incorporating land-related information into blockchain, identifying the property can be hastened besides providing the security, trust and accuracy of land transfer by al- lowing every stakeholder the digital tracking of each transaction Krupa and S (2019). It would reduce the expense and time of the land transaction without the intervention of a third party. Themistocleous (2018a)Vos (2017),. Blockchain technology has many advantages like distributed trust, timestamping, shared database and validity of transactions that make it very much suitable for land registry system im- implementations Underwood (2016)– Kempe (2016a). Many blockchain-based land registry systems have been proposed and implemented to counter the limitations of existing land registry systems by different countries like Brazil Allison (2018), Canada Brennan (2020), Ghana L and Bates (2016), India Vari- yar and Bansal (2017), Georgia 975 (2017), United Kingdom Birchall (2018), United States Mirkovic (2019), Honduras Anand et al. (2016), Inc and Inc (2018), Switzerland Wisekey (2019) etc.