Georgia’s Ministry of Justice has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with public blockchain network Hedera as it weighs moving the country’s land registry on-chain and tokenizing real estate.
According to a Monday announcement from the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, the government signed an MoU with Hedera, a public blockchain with permissioned node operation. At a meeting between the Minister of Justice of Georgia, Paata Salia, and a representative of Hedera, the two parties discussed the potential integration of blockchain technology into public infrastructure.
Georgian officials said they are considering transferring data from the National Agency of Public Registry to the blockchain network, hoping this “would ensure even greater protection of property rights, transparency and reliability of processes.”
Also under consideration is the tokenization of real estate, in an effort that closely resembles real-world asset (RWA) tokenization projects.
For now, the agreement is a nonbinding MoU. The next step would be forming joint working groups with experts from the Ministry of Justice and the National Agency of Public Registry, according to the announcement.
Meeting between the Ministry of Georgia and Hedera representative. Source: Ministry of Justice of Georgia
Related: How governments use blockchain for public services
Not Georgia’s first rodeo
Georgia has long been a proponent of blockchain technology in government. In early February 2017, the government of Georgia signed an agreement to use the Bitcoin blockchain to verify property transactions. Reports from late April that year showed that the country had already registered over 100,000 property records onchain.
The push for governmental blockchain adoption has not stopped since then. About a year ago, the United National Movement coalition partnered with Rarilabs to release a new blockchain solution for public administration. Various political and technical initiatives have tried to expand blockchain use in public administration, though not all have been adopted by the ruling Georgian Dream party.
Related: Tether signs MoU with Georgia to develop Bitcoin P2P infrastructure
In June 2024, Natia Turnava, acting governor of Georgia’s central bank, and Varlam Ebanoidze, head of the bank’s financial and supervisory technology development department, met with Ripple executive James Wallis to explore potential avenues for collaboration in digitalizing the Georgian economy.
This followed early November 2023 reports that the central bank had selected blockchain payments network Ripple Labs as its official technology partner to develop its central bank digital currency. This followed the bank’s announcement two months earlier that it planned to conduct a limited-access pilot of its CBDC.
Magazine: Crypto is used for payments in Georgia, not to get rich: Tbilisi Crypto City Guide