Georgia’s Ministry of Justice has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with public blockchain network Hedera as it explores the possibility of moving the country’s land registry on-chain and tokenizing real estate.
According to an announcement from the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, the government entered into an MoU with Hedera, a public blockchain that features permissioned node operation. During a meeting between the Minister of Justice of Georgia, Paata Salia, and a representative from Hedera, both parties discussed the potential integration of blockchain technology into public infrastructure.
Georgian officials indicated that they are considering transferring data from the National Agency of Public Registry to the blockchain network. The objective is to enhance the protection of property rights, transparency, and the reliability of associated processes.
Another area under consideration is the tokenization of real estate, an initiative that aligns with real-world asset (RWA) tokenization projects.
Currently, the agreement is a nonbinding MoU. The subsequent step involves forming joint working groups composed of experts from the Ministry of Justice and the National Agency of Public Registry, as stated in the announcement.
Georgia's History with Blockchain in Government
Georgia has a notable history of embracing blockchain technology within its governmental operations. In early February 2017, the government of Georgia established an agreement to utilize the Bitcoin blockchain for the verification of property transactions. By late April of that year, reports indicated that the country had successfully registered over 100,000 property records on-chain.
The momentum for governmental blockchain adoption has continued since that initial step. Approximately a year ago, the United National Movement coalition collaborated with Rarilabs to introduce a new blockchain solution for public administration. While various political and technical initiatives have aimed to broaden the use of blockchain in public administration, not all have received adoption from the ruling Georgian Dream party.
In June 2024, Natia Turnava, the 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. The discussions focused on exploring potential avenues for collaboration in the digitalization of the Georgian economy.
This engagement followed reports from early November 2023, which indicated that the central bank had selected the blockchain payments network Ripple Labs as its official technology partner for the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). This decision came after the bank's announcement two months prior regarding its plan to conduct a limited-access pilot of its CBDC.