A blockchain-based startup which bills itself as “the future of real estate” has announced that its project has been legalized by Japanese regulatory bodies, including the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission.

Ruden Holdings says inaccurate information, poor record management and inefficient processes are currently blighting the property sector – costing businesses time, money and even credibility. Data cannot be shared easily between organizations – and some cases have seen property owners struggle to prove their ownership of a building.

The company has a goal of creating digital identities for real estate properties, helping to enhance the quality and consistency of information given to buyers and sellers. It also plans to reduce the costs associated with completing transactions through smart contracts and cryptocurrency payments – and believes this could offer big advantages to overseas investors who are making a purchase on the other side of the world.

According to Ruden’s white paper, one of the main advantages to digitizing certificates for properties – offering a thorough history of every building – is that it helps stop fraud. Blockchain’s encrypted and tamperproof nature lends itself to transparency, thwarting those who want to hide illicit funds through properties. Illustrating its potential, its team wrote: “Governments are now trying to use blockchain technology to register real estates and improve the transparency of lands and real estate ownership.”

In time, the company also hopes its technology could speed up the time it takes to get a mortgage – a prospect that would be welcome news for buyers. Research on the US market by Fannie Mae suggests that the closing time for a new purchase is 46 days – with the process creating endless amounts of stress and anxiety for parties involved.

Growing interest

Fresh from being recognized by Japanese regulators, Ruden Holdings has raised $10 million from private equity firms across Asia.

The startup is now planning to strike new relationships in jurisdictions beyond Japan and Singapore. Executives from Ruden recently attended the controversial Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where their project attracted the attention of the Lebanese ambassador. The company is also gearing up for “high-level” talks with the finance minister of Lithuania in the not-too-distant future.

In addition, Ruden believes that there are some exciting prospects for growth to be found in the United Arab Emirates, which plans to ramp up its adoption of blockchain. As reported by Cointelegraph, the state wants to become a world leader in using the technology by 2021 – and one of its objectives involves a commitment to making 50 percent of transactions via blockchain over the next three years.

Jacky Hai, the company’s chief technology officer, told Cointelegraph: “Blockchain is a powerful tool for us which will enable us to define the future of real estate.

“It will speed up the process of buying property and open up the Japanese real estate market to foreign investment. The Ruden token allows us to incentivise the uploading of current real estate data which will unlock the value of large-scale data analysis.”

Building a home for real estate documents

In the fourth quarter of 2018, the startup has been embarking on fundraising with the goal of driving interest in its native Ruden coin. From here, it is expected to be listed on overseas cryptocurrency exchanges by Dec 1 2018.

Next year, the emphasis will shift onto building a platform where real estate can be securely purchased using cryptocurrency – and designing an “information registration and query system” to benefit its user base.

The CEO of Ruden Holdings is Susumu Nishioka, who has been in position since 2009. He worked at a law firm before starting his own business – and according to the company, he is now known as a “pioneer of one-room condominiums for investment purposes.”