The newly-reformed laws on rentals will require all rent contracts to be recorded on a blockchain system, the Prime Minister of Malta told reporters recently. This is being done to ensure security and transparency.

Malta is taking steps to effectively digitize all its records, starting with rental contracts.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat says that the newly-approved laws on rentals will be announced in the coming days. However, he did specify one important detail: all rental contracts, as per the new law, will have to be recorded on a distributed public ledger. “Every rent contract in Malta will be registered. The system we will be using to register the contracts is blockchain — distributed ledger technology,” he said.

Speaking to Sunday morning radio show One Radio, the Prime Minister said that the best way to demonstrate to the people the added value of this technology is by applying it to their everyday lives. That’s why rental contracts have been chosen as an appropriate starting point for the mass implementation of blockchain technology.

The new rental laws come after a long consultation period between legislators. They have now come to a conclusion — and Prime Minister Muscat said that the full details of the rent reform law will be unveiled in the coming days.

Malta is a known hub for the cryptocurrency industry and is one of the most blockchain-friendly areas in the world. In February of this year, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by volume, Binance, moved its operations to Malta.

Malta is the only country in the world which has passed specific laws detailing the regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency sector — enacted on July 4, 2018.

With rental contracts in the country soon to be recorded on a blockchain system, the entire country could see the rest of its contracts and data move towards a similar model in the coming years.

Do you believe this news will open the door to other aspects of Maltese governance to move towards a blockchain-based model? Let us know your thoughts below.

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