thijnschippers7

5/5 (1)

While the QR code has been present for years in Asia, it has remained dormant in the Netherlands. Until corona. Since then, applications have been flooding in. A QR code is a two-dimensional bar code that was invented in 1994 in Japan. It is essentially a link to information on a website or in an app, a piece of text or an email address, contact information such as a text message, or an invoice that may be paid in one transaction. Not all cubes or dashes are required to represent the data. That is why they sometimes include a business logo. The iDeal payment solution’s logo is an illustration of this. You may be surprised that QR codes are rapidly gaining popularity. After all, they’ve been seen for years. The issue was simply that nothing was being done with it. However, in Asia people order groceries trough QR codes while they sit in the subway on the way home. Another example is that in Japan there are even QR codes on tombstones with last messages of people who passed away. What I am trying to say is that while in Asia the QR code is very common, in Europe we just start to realize the ease and efficiency of QR codes.

The QR code
So how does a QR code work? Even though the QR code is like the linear barcodes seen on goods in stores, it offers four significant advantages:

It can store a huge amount of data.
It is not limited to paper; it may be scanned from a screen as well.
It is accessible even if a section of the code is broken.
It is more secure since data can be encrypted.

Whenever a QR code is scanned, the horizontal and vertical patterns in the matrix are decoded and transformed to a string of characters by the software on your smartphone. Because QR codes include additional data, they enable encryption, which is advantageous for safe payment processing.

Why now and what are more possible applications?
Finally, the digital vaccination and testing certificate established the QR code as a permanent landmark. Almost everyone felt compelled to familiarize themselves with it. This expertise paves the door for a wide variety of applications. Of course, we saw that in the catering industry the QR code already made its appearance because of covid 19, however there are many more possible applications. Consider education, where the QR code may serve as a gateway to more information on class subjects.

For tourists, QR codes, will increasingly serve as the jumping-off point for their activities. Not with a basic walking map, but with visuals and music that accompany you on your journey. For museums, just providing their location and admission prices is no longer sufficient. Additionally, tourists want to know whether the establishment is crowded, if they can make reservations, and how to get there. Pet owners may attach a QR code to their dog’s or cat’s collar with their contact information in case it runs away. A secret message may be disguised behind a QR code used as a tattoo. Through covid-19, the QR code has already established a footing in healthcare. This is only going to grow as appointments and research become more prevalent.

The QR code can make a lot of processes and experiences much more efficient. Where do you see the QR code as a possible solution? And is the QR code here to stay?

5/5 (1)

The real estate brokerage process

According to Nitin Gaur, the former Director of IBM Blockchain Labs, “we live in the age of

disintermediation,” or the removal of middlemen. On a worldwide basis, individuals appear to be wary

of intermediaries and prefer to engage directly with one another. Currently, most purchasers and

sellers of real estate use escrow and title firms for third-party verification, which serves as a safety net

to ensure that both parties maintain their end of the bargain and reduces the danger of fraud.

However, the real estate brokerage model has many inefficiencies.

Among these are a requirement for a great deal of paperwork, a need for face-to-face interaction among the parties

to most transactions, and a lack of technological capability to legally bind property purchase with complete

documentation and security (Cheng-Shorland & Alishahi, 2019). Furthermore, the present real estate brokerage

process is not transparent or verifiable. These problems are also closely related to

the non-transparency of its data (Deloitte Centre for Financial Services, 2017). The information

asymmetry relating to real estate assets contributes to the real estate market’s transaction costs. In

addition, a complicated structure of interrelationships between participants also accounts for a large

portion of the transaction costs in the price of real estate (Kalyuzhnova, 2018).

Blockchain technology could potentially improve some of the current shortcomings in the real

estate brokerage process. The blockchain is a peer-to-peer network that does not require any

centralized authority or trusted third party. It only adds information to the database after it has

collectively verified the accuracy of the data (Tapscott, 2016). If the assets are digital, they can

contain any sort of value.

Blockchain

The innovative power of this technology makes it possible for companies to use a computer network to do business

with other companies they do not trust. A ‘smart contract’ powers the blockchain. The smart contract’s

programmability allows registered peers to validate transactions automatically and anonymously and

decide whether a new block can be added to the chain in chronological sequence (Baliga, 2017).

Moreover, any valuta, any contract, any tangible or intangible good can be traded using a system like

blockchain. Transactions are not the only thing that can be used for blockchain. Blockchain can also play

a role in the system of record and inventory to record, track, monitor, and trade assets. Hence,

blockchain could be applied for any form of recording, inventorying, and exchanging assets, including

all areas of finance, economics and currency, tangible assets, and intangible assets. According to

Spielman (2016), blockchain technology provides greater security and makes fraud impossible

because blockchain is immutable. Aside from security, another significant feature of blockchain

technology is transparency, as all parties involved have access to the data. So, the four primary

characteristics of blockchain are transparency, immutability, programmability, and decentralization.

The change

Blockchain represents a total shift away from the traditional ways of doing things, even

for industries that have already seen the significant transformation from digital technologies. It places

trust and authority in a decentralized network rather than in a powerful central institution. And for

most, this loss of control can be deeply unsettling (Deloitte, 2018). According to the theory, the blockchain digital

ledger’s transparency and traceability will dramatically lower the cost of verifying trading partners (Catalini and

Gans, 2016). Blockchain technology and a smart contract can overcome the problems associated with the real

estate sector. A decentralized system can allow buying as well as selling properties without a third party. The

document is also verified and validated digitally. All the documents are stored in a digital ledger

distributed database where everyone can see them (Mohanta, Panda & Jena, 2018). As a result, the

amount of time and money it takes to collect the information needed for a transaction will be lowered.

Real estate agents currently gather the information manually in multiple databases and verify the

stakeholders through slow protocols. Many of these documents must be bought. In addition, a real

estate agent charges fees for services such as enhancing reliability and reducing the risk of trading

with unknown partners. The transaction costs would be reduced if this procedure was carried out using

smart contracts. Furthermore, if the majority of this transaction were handled via smart contracts, most

of the labor of real estate agents would be eliminated, resulting in the brokerage fee being eliminated

or significantly reduced. The primary reason blockchain is not being utilized in this procedure is

because it is not yet legal. Public authorities have rules and standards regarding privacy when people

conduct a real estate transaction, that prohibit blockchain real estate transactions and registrations.

As long as human factors play a prominent role in the process of buying or selling real estate

objects, information asymmetry, goal incongruence, and high transaction costs will not disappear. In

the future, there should be blockchain alternatives to support or completely provide this process for the

involved parties in a real estate transaction.

References

Baliga, A. (2017). Understanding Blockchain Consensus Models.

Catalini, C., & Gans, J. (2016). Some Simple Economics of the Blockchain.

CHENG-SHORLAND, C., & ALISHAHI, A. (2019). BLOCKCHAIN-POWERED REAL ESTATE

SALES AND RENTAL SYSTEM.

Deloitte Centre for Financial Services. (2017). Blockchain in commercial real estate – The future is

here!

Kalyuzhnova, N. (2018). Transformation of the real estate market on the basis of use of the blockchain

technologies: opportunities and problems.

Mohanta, B.K., Panda, S.S., and Jena, D., (2018), “An Overview of Smart Contract and Use Cases in

Blockchain Technology.”

Spielman, A. (2016). Digitally rebuilding the real estate industry.

Tapscott, D., & Tapscott, A. (2016). Blockchain revolution : how the technology behind bitcoin is

changing money, business, and the world .

The QR code: is it here to stay?

8

Please rate this

‘Blockchain Impact On Real Estate Brokerage’

7

Please rate this