Blockchain-based property listing and transaction platform, REX has announced an upcoming token sale for its REX blockchain-based MLS platform. This is set for launch the last week in July, 2017. This will enable investors to participate in a platform which connects vendors, buyers, sellers and agents over a decentralized network. REX co-founders are Stephen King, CEO, and Russell McLernon, CTO.

REX’s and reinventing MLS

REX aims to reinvent an industry which has seen little to no technical innovation in recent years. Its open Multiple Listing Service (MLS), built on Ethereum, enables REX to make real estate transactions cheaper and more efficient. The platform’s model seeks to offer a new twist to an age-old system.

Most individuals who have ever bought or sold a home in the US would have used an MLS. The MLS originated in the late 1800s when real estate agents would congregate to exchange information about the properties they were trying to sell. The present-day MLS network includes over 800 regional databases. These are accessible mostly to licensed agents and brokers who have an active membership. Each regional multiple listing service has its own listings. Agents pay fees to access each individual database.

REX believes that building a multiple listing service on the Ethereum blockchain will offer big benefits which are not feasible within the traditional MLS system. By developing an MLS on the Ethereum blockchain, REX can create a set of global standards for listings. This will allow for enhanced interoperability between applications and participants in the market.

The REX blockchain-based MLS platform

Blockchain technology has the potential to offer strong network effects. Token economics give individuals the ability to incentivize contributions to the network. This enables the distribution of platforms to the participants who make them tick. Blockchain technology also has the potential to open up data for developers and data scientists. This may give AI the possibility to ‘examine’ a pool of information that currently is restrictively controlled.

The REX token’s initial purpose will be to incentivize users to upload listings and reduce spam. Anyone can upload a listing to REX. Listing rewards are distributed in exchange for verified users.

REX will provide Proof of Approvals (PoA) to users submitting listings that are not their own. PoAs will require evidence from the user that the listing broker or landlord has authorized them to create listings on their behalf. This mechanism can build an open database that will power real estate dApps (decentralized Apps) in the future. This will change the way people sell, discover and buy properties around the world.

By supplanting the existing MLS providers with a new, free, open-source technology, REX hopes to open an opportunity where users can put its database and the Ethereum network to test and experience its advantages first-hand.

With the creation of a blockchain solution for the real estate industry, REX intends to consolidate its position in the segment as the cryptocurrency revolution catches up with the industry, gradually replacing the existing systems with blockchain-based tools. As the shift happens, REX can to execute its long-term vision of reducing costs, improving transparency and increasing the speed at which real estate transactions around the world unfold.

What’s it mean?

REX is building a universal real estate listing database that aspires to be open and accessible to all. The platform has a built-in incentive system to reward contributors, thereby encouraging the users to create more listings.

REX believes that opening this service will be the first step on a road which will enable it to revolutionise the realty industry. REX believes that its initiative will demonstrate how the Ethereum blockchain can have a positive effect on the industry.