Since the blockchain technology craze swept the US in 2015, technologists working to pinpoint new use-cases for the technology have been squawking about its potential to revolutionize how governments store and track ownership of land. The system used by most modern governments was developed centuries ago: In the US, property titles are public documents recorded with roughly 3,600 counties, towns and other jurisdictions. In some cases, the record is available only in writing and can be viewed only by visiting a town clerk's office. Since the system in its present form leaves plenty of room for error, many homeowners purchase title insurance to protect against the possibility that their claim to the property is challenged – either because the records were lost of destroyed, or for any other reason.

Several countries, including Ukraine, the Republic of Georgia, Honduras and Sweden have already partnered with Bitfury and other blockchain startups to develop a blockchain-based title-registry system. As WSJ reports, some of these systems are nearly ready to be implemented.