The Dubai Land Department (DLD) recently entered into a partnership with the UAE's Mashreq Bank for a blockchain-based mortgage platform. The real estate arm of the Executive Council of Dubai appears to be looking for a platform which can serve as a "storage" of sorts for mortgage records, according to Coin Telegraph.
The report also said that the app will have the capability to confirm mortgages' compliance with policies, as well as the proper registration. It will also be built to accommodate on-going updates within an ongoing property sale. Recording liquidation and payment defaults, or mortgage updates will be made easier when done within the app.
The DLD is looking into ways to streamline processes and make their services more efficient. DLD director general Sultan Butti Bin Mejren commented on the development of the app, saying that a new e-mortgage system will help improve the automation of applications and systems, as part of an ongoing effort on their part to reduce paper transactions and repetitive visits.
The technology has been researched by all governments, and even in the Middle East, governments are looking at it from a legal perspective. According to Lexology, the rules that govern a blockchain transaction can be simplified to gaining the approval of all parties. A block transaction is only legal if all parties agree to the parameters set forth by a block.
The blockchain network is seen by most governments to be a proponent of the "fourth industrial evolution." In the UAE, the hope is that the government will be the first in the world to become blockchain-powered. This was labeled as the Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021. In this, the government is hoping to transfer 50% of all government transactions to the blockchain by 2021.
Dubai, meanwhile, is seeking to make the Dubai Blockchain Strategy work. This collaboration between the Smart Dubai office and the Dubai Future Foundation seeks to transform the city into the "first city fully powered by blockchain" in 2020. It does look like a lofty goal, but the city is in good hands; it has formed partnerships with tech companies IBM and Consensys for this very goal.
The goal is to make all services effective through blockchain. There is the danger of cyber-criminals hacking into the system, but blockchain could prove to be the one vault that they couldn't break into.
