How Property Title Technology Moves Beyond Blockchain Buzzwords

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

29 Aug 2025

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Landano International COO Aaron Moguin says property owners shouldn’t fear blockchain technology, they should fear the inefficiencies of current title systems that cost them thousands in unnecessary fees.

The real estate industry spends billions annually on title insurance and verification processes that could be dramatically streamlined through modern technology, according to Moguin. “In North America, title insurance usually costs less than 1% of the property value, but on a $400,000 home, that’s still $4,000 just to do a month’s worth of detective work to verify ownership,” he explains.

The Hidden Costs of Paper-Based Property Records

The current system of property records, whether paper-based or digitized, requires extensive manual verification by title insurance companies acting as “property detectives,” Moguin says. These professionals must investigate potential liens, incomplete mortgages, or unknown inheritance claims that could impact clean title.

“There’s this whole title insurance industry that exists for this reason only,” Moguin notes. “That is an entire industry of essentially detectives that spend their entire working day just doing detective work to make sure there isn’t some unknown lien that some bank has on a piece of property.”

This labor-intensive process drives up costs and extends closing timelines, even in developed markets with relatively robust record-keeping systems. In less developed regions, the challenges multiply exponentially.

Demystifying the Technology

While terms like “blockchain” and “NFT” may spark concerns about cryptocurrency volatility, Moguin argues the underlying technology simply provides a more secure way to track and transfer property records.

“If you don’t use the word blockchain or NFT or anything like that, just describe it as a very fraud-proof, very hard to hack method of transferring really important information and holding records that are hard to screw around with, people understand those words, and that’s what it is,” Moguin explains.

He points to Georgia (the country) as an early adopter that has successfully implemented blockchain technology for property records while maintaining traditional systems. “They still have their paper record system and their legacy system of their national land registry in Georgia, but they back everything up as NFTs on blockchain,” Moguin says. “They’re basically using it as a security backup system to eliminate the fraud problem.”

The Path Forward Through Practical Implementation

Through Landano International, Moguin and his team are working to implement similar systems in developing markets, starting at the local level rather than attempting nationwide rollouts.

“It’s better to start with a few places and kind of see how it works, improve it, scale up, move out,” he explains. This measured approach allows for refinement of the technology while building trust through demonstrated success.

The company recently completed an intensive development period at CV Labs, a blockchain business incubator in Switzerland, where they refined their approach based on feedback from successful implementations. They’ve also engaged with major technology companies like Google about blockchain implementations.

While Moguin acknowledges that education and trust-building take time, he believes the benefits of modernized property record systems will ultimately drive adoption. “When you can sell a piece of property because you have complete confidence that the records are pure and you don’t have to do any detective work to find out what else is out there, that’s where blockchain comes in,” he says.

The technology may seem novel now, but Moguin argues it’s simply the next evolution in record-keeping, one that could save property owners significant time and money while reducing fraud risks. As more jurisdictions successfully implement these systems, he expects comfort levels to rise accordingly.