Today the Meridio team is launching our first real estate leasing product, reLease, in partnership with Crypto NYC and ConsenSys. The reLease dapp allows anyone to rent a stylish, productive workspace for the day to work amongst a group of creative peers, with no subscription or lock in. Coworking spaces can monetize unused space by adding hot desks, conference rooms, or event space to the app and instantly get paid out in ETH when they are reserved.

We believe the value of blockchain technology stems from enabling seamless value transfer amongst individuals that might not trust each other. Residential and commercial leasing transactions jump out as an attractive sector to apply the technology, considering the onerous, long-running processes that exist with real estate, the power asymmetry involved in the negotiations between buyers/brokers/sellers, and the history of discriminatory practices by some landlords. The reLease dapp replaces rental applications, paper legal contracts, security deposits, and wire transfers with an instant reservation process built on top of the smart contracts and payment rails of the Ethereum blockchain.

You can access the application today through the Coinbase Wallet where you can browse available spaces, rent them on the spot, or add your extra space for others to consider. The reservation process is incredibly streamlined so that the digital signature of the legal agreement, payment, and proof of tenancy are all processed in a single blockchain transaction. As a result fees are kept as low as possible for the user, bookkeeping is seamless for the organization, and both parties benefit from the speed and efficiency.

Hot desks are available for rent today via Crypto NYC in Manhattan or ConsenSys in Bushwick. You can check them out at leasing.meridio.co, but will need an integrated wallet like Metamask or Coinbase Wallet to make a reservation.

Using blockchain technology to conduct primary and secondary real estate transactions cuts costs and increases speed of transaction. Blockchains also enable better programmability and encoded compliance for shares. However, these stated benefits of using blockchain in real estate are not the only cardinal improvements the industry is expecting. As Meridio continues to bring a property’s entire lifecycle, including its inbound (e.g. rent) and outbound (e.g. operating expenses and investor distributions) payments, on-chain more accounting and legal-related value can be realized. The ability to book a workspace seamlessly on-chain is just the beginning — a world with real time leasing information is coming.

If you would like to list your space, collaborate on the next iteration of the app, or just have feedback, feel free to reach out at @MeridioRE or @corbpage.

Thank you to the good folks at Crypto NYC, ConsenSys, the Meridio team, and everyone that contributed to user research, building, testing, and roll out of reLease!