Balcony and Avalanche bring 370k New Jersey property deeds (worth $240B) on-chain, slashing settlement delays and boosting security.

Balcony, a real estate infrastructure firm, just locked in a five-year contract with the Bergen County Clerk’s Office to put 370,000 property records - worth roughly $240 billion - on Avalanche (AVAX). 

Oh, and it’s the largest deed tokenization deal in U.S. history. 

Using Avalanche’s AvaCloud, they’ll (Balcony) convert old paper-based systems into on-chain records for faster settlements, minimized fraud, and better transparency.

Currently, real estate closings can drag on for months, with counties reliant on archaic COBOL-based systems. That’s a playground for ransomware and errors. But by anchoring deeds to a tamper-proof Avalanche chain, settlement time plummets from 90 days to about one. 

Access becomes straightforward - records are digitized, easily searchable, and resilient to hacking or lost data. In 2023 alone, 23 municipalities in New Jersey paid upwards of $1 million each to recover from digital attacks. This new approach might slash those vulnerabilities.

Balcony isn’t stopping in Bergen County. They’ve already inked deals or started rolling out in Camden, Orange, Morristown, and Fort Lee. Altogether, that’s 460,000+ properties, near $290 billion in real estate on-chain. 

Some might dismiss it as an on-chain pilot, but it’s not. It’s fully live, with real contracts for five years. The perks? Government staff can quickly spot hidden tax revenues, as seen in Orange, which recovered nearly $1 million. Citizens, in turn, get easier closings and better record reliability.

It’s also a blueprint for other counties or states. With AvaCloud’s flexibility, each municipality gets tailored tech, while staying on a unified Avalanche foundation. “We’re rewriting public trust in property records,” says Gregg Lester, President of Balcony. 

If success continues, it could mark a new era of blockchain-driven public services.

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