$599,000 Wyoming property sale recorded on block chain

85 Hilltop Trail, Camden Wymoning, DE 19934

Michael Kelczewski of Sotheby’s International Realty drew headlines in 2018 for accepting Bitcoins as a form of payment on a $1.75 million property in Newark.

Now the Delaware-based real estate broker is using block chain technology to increase transparency in the property sales process.

Kelczewski is using the open-source block chain network Ethereum to post the details of a $599,000 property sale in Wyoming, Delaware. He says the 4,817-square-foot property is the first on the East Coast to use block chain in this way.

He describes block chain as basically a ledger or piece of paper in which information is recorded and made available to the public. Details recorded on the block chain include list price, offer price and the contract. The entire transaction process is also recorded, from the initial bid to back-and-forth negotiation.

“It’s about instilling confidence and faith in an individual on a transaction,” he said. “It decreases the perception of conflicted interest and increases trust between parties.”

Kelczewski said that in this case block chain wasn’t crucial to making the sale, but he sees it as a first step toward wider adoption.

“I had this idea about six years ago,” said Kelczewski. “It was probably crazy. It’s not so crazy anymore.”

He says the property will settle within the next 30 days.

– Alex Vuocolo