Georgia’s Ministry of Justice has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with public blockchain network Hedera as the country evaluates moving its national land registry on-chain and potentially tokenizing real estate.
The Ministry announced Monday that Justice Minister Paata Salia met with Hedera representatives to discuss how blockchain could be integrated into state systems. Officials said transferring the National Agency of Public Registry’s data to the network could improve property rights protections, increase transparency, and enhance trust in public processes.
The agreement is nonbinding for now. The next phase involves assembling joint working groups with experts from the Ministry of Justice and the National Agency of Public Registry to evaluate technical and legal requirements.
Real estate tokenization under review
In addition to the digital registry, Georgia is exploring the tokenisation of real estate—an initiative that reflects global trends in real-world asset tokenisation (RWA). The concept would facilitate property ownership representation through blockchain-based tokens, potentially simplifying transactions and modernising administrative processes.
Long history of blockchain integration in Georgia
Georgia is by no means the first state to experiment with blockchain-based government. More than 100,000 property records have already been recorded on the blockchain. The government agreed to use the Bitcoin blockchain to confirm real estate transactions by April of 2017.
Through several election cycles, efforts to increase the use of blockchain in the public sector have persisted. Although not all of the recommendations have been accepted by the ruling Georgian Dream party, the United National Movement coalition and Rarilabs collaborated on a blockchain solution for public administration about a year ago.
Georgia’s financial regulators have also thought about using blockchain. James Wallis, an official at Ripple, met with people from central banks in June 2024 to discuss projects that will change the way they do business. The bank picked Ripple as its technology partner in 2023 to help build a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and get ready for a test with limited access.