This week, Future in Focus is featuring Italy-based BrikBit. BrikBit will be built on the Lisk-based blockchain ecosystem and develop, as well as manage entire operations for the real estate industry. Within the BrikBit ecosystem, all shareholders involved in real estate projects will be able to use the potential of blockchain technology to automate, disintermediate and make more transparent both typical and implicit processes during all steps involved in a real estate enterprise such as fund collection, design, creation and management. We had a chance to chat with CTO and co-founder Alex Dell’Orto.
Please tell me a little more about the history of BrikBit and your relationship to blockchain technology.
When I started developing BrikBit’s original idea, neither of the worlds of blockchain/cryptocurrency or real estate were ready to welcome one another. They did not understand how to interact with real estate and vice versa, barring experiments involving the buying of real estate with cryptocurrency or recording “deed acts” on the blockchain. Despite this, we can say that there is a curiosity in the real estate world to test blockchain solutions and we are at the beginning of a possible maturation of the sector to adopt this technology. BrikBit is one of the first ecosystems to test this technology in a real and concrete way with pilot projects.
Why did the founders decide that the world needs BrikBit?
I began developing the idea of a blockchain application or a cryptocurrency for the real estate sector to solve the problem of the economic model with which real estate projects are developed, always linked to the banking system. Looking at Bitcoin’s experience and then later with Ethereum’s smart contract concept, we wanted to think about which technologies to apply to real estate and whether or not they could adapt to real estate. Our team is made up of architects with a great deal of international experience who want to use all the potential of blockchain technology to create a platform where all possible scenarios in construction and renovation can be implemented and developed.
What issues currently plague the real estate industry?
While Bitcoin sought to create an alternative money exchange system, in real estate, there is still no object that represents the value of property. It cannot simply be a currency — it has to be the digital information of the property itself. The answer lies in REDA (Real Estate Digital Asset) — it contains information related to the building. This information is shared and maintained within a community through protocols observed by all members. The work we are doing today is the first step in our attempt to find shared standards in order to best respond to the realities and demands in real estate development. How it works is a question that needs a very long answer. Each REDA is an independent blockchain with an infrastructure and community support and depending on where the property is located, will need to adapt to the rules and laws of that territory.
What problems will BrikBit solve?
BrikBit aims to optimize the transaction process of value between individuals (saving financial resources) to determine a more equal and transparent deployment of value as well as to optimize the verification and evaluation process of the final value of a property. BrikBit wants to:
- Solve the problem of univocity and correctness of real estate data
- Solve the problem of illiquidity of value of real estate properties
- Solve the problem of fundraising for easy access to real estate development
- Bring transparency to the oldest industrial sector
BrikBit will bring about the real financial revolution of real estate.
Who do you plan to collaborate and work with to achieve these goals of creating better ways of communicating?
BrikBit is a protocol which will create a community involved in managing real estate property. All real estate players who want to be involved are welcome — landlords, designers, architects, engineers, forgers, and real estate investors.
Where do you envision BrikBit will be in five years?
It is hard to think about where BrikBit will be in five years because its relationship with different projects and the legal framework linked to different institutions can change the roadmap of BrikBit, but we would love to have a large global community with real estate buildings managed by members.
How do you anticipate blockchain technology will change the world? What is its potential?
I believe the use of blockchain technology will create a way to view finance and allows for the opportunity to improve oneself through a community effort. We still have not seen the full potential of blockchain technology; we will need more education, support and incentivization for new people to join the blockchain revolution.
Disclaimer: The Lisk Foundation in no way endorses projects that are interviewed for the series.
