# Protect land registry entries against retroactive tampering

> The National Agency of Public Registry of the Republic of Georgia, together with the Bitfury Group, secures land titles against retroactive alteration. The state registry database remains authoritative, while the state of a permissioned chain is periodically anchored into the Bitcoin blockchain via a distributed timestamping service. Owners thereby receive a cryptographic proof of their entry that can be verified independently against the public chain.

**Sector:** Tertiary sector · **Industry:** Government agencies and public administration · **Organisation:** National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR), Republik Georgien · **Maturity level:** Production

Canonical URL: https://www.sapientblock.com/en/use-cases/national-agency-of-public-registry-grundbucheintraege-gegen-nachtraegliche

## Documentation status

- **Project status:** Production
- **Evidence:** Evidence medium
- **Editorial review:** pending

## Description

The National Agency of Public Registry of the Republic of Georgia, together with the Bitfury Group, secures property titles against subsequent manipulation. After the post-Soviet privatisation, trust in state property registers was low because entries could be altered by insiders and owners had no independently verifiable proof of their entry at a specific point in time. The solution does not replace the existing register but regularly anchors its state in a public blockchain that is not controlled by any authority.

In April 2016, the Georgian National Agency of Public Registry, Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto and the company Bitfury agreed on a joint pilot project to secure property titles; the project was expanded in February 2017. The leading data management remains with the existing registry system of the NAPR, into which the blockchain component was integrated. Bitfury operates a private, access-restricted chain for this purpose, the state of which is periodically anchored in the Bitcoin blockchain via a distributed timestamp service. Owners receive a cryptographic proof of their entry, which can be verified against the public chain, so that any later change would be detectable. Reports mention around 100,000 anchored titles as of August 2019, while other sources indicate significantly higher numbers of processed registry transactions; the figures vary depending on source and reference date and should be conservatively stated in any publication. The actual contribution of the case lies in the architectural pattern: protection against manipulation through anchoring in an external, public infrastructure without having to replace the core system.

## Benefits

- Reduced risk in real estate transactions and in the lending of real property.
- A transferable architectural pattern for other critical registers.
- Independent verifiability of one's own registry entry.
- Less dependence on trust in the authority.
- Subsequent changes to registry entries become detectable.
- The existing core system remains leading and does not need to be replaced.
- Citizens receive independently verifiable proof of ownership.
- The protection against manipulation relies on an infrastructure that is not controlled by any authority.
- Effective barrier against internal manipulation.
- Clear technical basis for information provided to owners.

## Challenges

- The benefit depends on market participants actually verifying the proofs.
- The evidential value of the cryptographic proof in case of dispute must be legally clarified.
- The figures for the number of anchored titles vary significantly depending on source and reference date.
- The anchoring protects against subsequent changes, not against an initially incorrect entry.
- The timestamp service and anchoring intervals must be operated permanently.

## Technology foundation

The procedure combines a private, access-restricted chain with regular anchoring of its state in the public Bitcoin blockchain via a distributed timestamp service. This combination is the core of the case: the state retains sovereignty over its registry data while immutability is tied to an infrastructure that no authority controls.

## Sources

- [The Bitfury Group and Government of Republic of Georgia Expand Blockchain Pilot](https://bitfury.com/content/downloads/the_bitfury_group_republic_of_georgia_expand_blockchain_pilot_2_7_16.pdf)
- [Georgia: Authorities Use Blockchain Technology for Developing Land Registry](https://eurasianet.org/georgia-authorities-use-blockchain-technology-for-developing-land-registry)
- [A Blockchain-Based Land Titling Project in the Republic of Georgia](https://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/12/3-4/72/705280/inov_a_00276.pdf)
- [The First Government To Secure Land Titles On The Bitcoin Blockchain Expands Project](https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/02/07/the-first-government-to-secure-land-titles-on-the-bitcoin-blockchain-expands-project/)