Testimony Supporting SB 6065: Establishing the Washington blockchain work group
Testimony and video of the Washington State Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology hearing on this blockchain bill
On 2020 January 14 the Washington State Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology held a hearing on a follow on blockchain bill SB 6065: Establishing the Washington blockchain work group. See this post for the first one, SB 5638: Recognizing the validity of distributed ledger technology. Again sponsored by Senator Sharon Brown. Arry Yu, Alvaro Jimenez Jimenez, Kristy-Leigh Minehan, Jill Williamson, Chris Spanton, Lawrence Lerner, and myself testified in favor. Montana Wong came along to support us.
Watch the video of the hearing here. My testimony starts at 55:09.
Chair, members of the committee: My name is Brock Freeman, and I am the Seattle and Northwest U.S. Regional Chair for the Foundation for International Blockchain and Real Estate Expertise (FIBREE). I am speaking today in support of SB 6065.
First, I want to commend Senator Brown for her forward thinking in specifically including the real estate transaction process in this bill, and inclusion of a title insurance trade association representative in the work group.
There are numerous examples of leveraging blockchain technology in real estate. However, in my short time today I want to call your attention to two specific examples, and how they benefit business and consumers in Washington.
The first example is property title management. Currently, we face high title insurance and related costs due to chain of title and lien recording issues on a high percentage of properties, and fraud risk that Deloitte estimates costs $1 billion annually.
Use of blockchain technology can reduce fraud and simplify the process of title records and checks, this can shrink the time required to record conveyance documents by half. Serveral states, including Vermont and Wyoming, already have test pilots in progress of blockchain technology for the recording of land records and other public records.
The second example is real estate asset backed blockchain based smart securities. The advantages are mitigation of the illiquid nature of real estate investments, increased transparency, enhanced security and simplified management, as well as legal compliance.
Lowering the barrier for commercial real estate investment opens up this opportunity to a far greater number of Washingtonians. It makes it easier for people to invest right in their own neighborhood and town, increasing the amount of funds available in Washington.
In light of these examples of how blockchain technology in real estate benefits business and consumers in Washington, I encourage your support of SB 6065, Establishing the Washington blockchain work group.
Thank you and I am available for questions.
