Propy raises $15m in ICO to bring real estate onto a blockchain
US firm Propy, which operates a decentralised title registry and property store, has raised $15m from its initial coin offering from investors including RenGen and CrunchFund. Prior to the PRO token sale, the company had already raised $2m, as it plans to put the international real estate market on the blockchain. Propy recently partnered with the government of Ukraine to enable online purchases of the country's real estate by foreign investors.
Propy, a property store and decentralized title registry, announced today that it raised $15 million from 6,597 participants in its PRO Token Sale to put the international real estate market on the Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term.

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Prior to the start of the public sale, Propy had already secured $2 million in pre-sale commitments. “By recording real estate transactions in the blockchain, Propy brings the transparency and accountability buyers and sellers of real estate need,” said Scott D. Hughes, one of the pre-sale participants in Propy, a lawyer and an avid real estate investor.

“It was an easy decision to invest,” said Debbie Chiu, another pre-sale participant in Propy. “Prospective homeowners and sellers need a simple, secure way to transact without middlemen, and Propy’s solution offers that.”

The public sale got a large investment in the first hour from RenGen, an investment company, and CrunchFund, an early stage investment firm based in San Francisco.

Additional developments

Propy also announced the appointment of Vasilious Vutsadaskis Ph.D., an MIT graduate, scientist, and patent author with experience in computational physics, programming, and legislative research. Vasilios has experience in dealing with real estate transactions in both the EU and Russia.

Propy has partnered with Leju Holdings Limited, the leading online-to-offline real estate services provider in China, to facilitate online real estate purchases by foreign investors.

As we previously reported, Propy partnered with the government of Ukraine to allow online purchases of Ukrainian real estate by foreign investors. It now reports that the first real estate transaction is underway by Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch. Pilot programs will be led by Propy in coordination with Ukraine’s Agency for E-Governance throughout next year.