Big day for Blockchain in Real Estate and more broadly in Boston: As I post this, (1) Deloitte's Blockchain in Real Estate conference is wrapping up at VentureCafe in Rotterdam, (2) MIT's hosts their last Google Hangout 3-4pm before the W3C Blockchain Workshop, June 29-30; and (3) the Boston Blockchain MeetUp starts at 6pm. Where do you think blockchain is going in real estate? About three weeks ago, a reporter sent me these questions. My answers follow, what are yours?

1) Could you tell me a bit about yourself and your involvement in this area?

2) What are the opportunities for using blockchains in real estate?

3) What are the main roadblocks to adoption?

4) Who is making most progress in making this happen?

5) What are the business models? How is anyone going to make any money out of this?

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1) Could you tell me a bit about yourself and your involvement in this area?
Opened the first real estate cybercafe more than twenty years, and am passionate about scouting innovation at the intersection of real estate, technology and consumer advocacy. Through that lens, the transformative potential of blockchain to decentralize, disintermediate, and create transparency are rallying causes not threats. Because I was educated as a city planner and work as a buyer agent, I'm able to see problems and opportunities at both the transaction (eg. see MIT hackathon winning BLIND bidding wars use case) and systemic levels. My goal is to ask what will the real estate ecosystem look like in the year 2020, and how can we use blockchain to cocreate efficiencies that will deliver consumer savings -- an estimated $30 billion annually by 2020.

2) What are the opportunities for using blockchains in real estate?
You can approach that question from two perspectives: what opportunities exist in the current business model, or ask what would the real estate ecosystem look like if the Multiple Listing System (MLS) did not exist? Right now, the broker is at the center of the real estate transaction, but the emerging ecosystem will be centered on personal data enabled by blockchain. So it's essential to create open standards that allow homebuyers to own their digital identity and homeowners to control the data coming from their smart homes, or to select a protector of their choice to manage and monetize their digital identity.

3) What are the main roadblocks to adoption?
Disruptive technology always creates winners and losers. Over the past three years, an estimated $3 billion dollars have been put into real estate start-ups. The overwhelming majority start with the existing business model. Even big names like Zillow and Redfin, which are thought to be disruptive, are coloring within the existing lines. In contrast, a proposal made several years ago by the homebuilders association represents a more radical starting point for blockchain because it moves beyond broker-controlled data silos and would enable house hunting with open data.

4) Who is making most progress in making this happen?
At this point, I don't see anyone in real estate approaching this as a systemic opportunity that involves multiple stakeholders, inside and outside the existing industry. But you've got to start somewhere so it's encouraging to see companies like Ubitquity focusing on title, and others like Flip using smart contracts to do something innovative with rental leases. RexMLS's white paper, entitled A Decentralized Multiple Listing Service and Real Estate Smart Contract Application, also has some intriguing ideas but it's focused initially on commercial real estate and it's not clear whether it's layering on top of the existing players and compensation models or trying to disintermediate them. Thankfully, the document is available on GitHub for others to use as a baseline for their own ideas.

5) What are the business models? How is anyone going to make any money out of this?
Before blockchain appeared on their radar, the National Association of Realtors issued a DangerReport outlining 50 ways the industry is vulnerable to disruption. If you're a start-up, turn that report upside and backwards to see problems or opportunities you can solve to empower consumers. Alternatively, start with a blank slate (or as Bitland did, with a developing country): if the MLS did not exist, how would we organize the real estate industry with the tools we have now and in the future? What will the real estate industry look like in the year 2020, and how can we cocreate an open ecosystem capable of delivering billions annually in consumer savings? If innovators like that approach, use the hashtag #RE2020 to find synergy partners and share progress towards that goal.

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Bill Wendel
@RealEstateCafe
http://bit.ly/SeeBWLinkedIn