Bitland African blockchain initiative puts land on distributed ledger

Bitland is a new blockchain technology initiative that aims to eliminate corruption and claims to unlock a multi-trillion dollar infrastructure industry. It’s a bold move. A group of tech pioneers from the United States, Denmark, Ghana and beyond are here to fight government corruption and empower people.

Bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology is the inspiration for many digital currencies. Its powerful decentralized ledger function can form a transaction information storage network on the global network that is not interfered with by the outside world. Many banks believe that blockchain technology is mature and can be used in foreign exchange, trading and other fields.

Ronny Boesing , founder and CEO of Danish digital currency exchange CCEDK and one of the project's technical pioneers, believes that blockchain shows huge reliability, transparency and cost advantages due to the "immutability of decentralized ledgers."

However, these advantages are often not fully utilized due to the target market and the way the technology is communicated. However, the Bitland development platform still sets the goal of showing local people the impact of blockchain technology on future life.

Ronny Boesing said:

“Bitland is exposing people to blockchain technology and bringing the human element to the decentralization movement.”

The group says it aims to offer services that allow individuals and groups to conduct land surveys and record land titles on the Bitland blockchain — providing a permanent, auditable record — as well as serve as a liaison to help resolve disputes.

The project is being piloted in 28 communities in Kumasi, one of Ghana’s largest cities (population 2 million), with the goal of expanding the service across the African continent.

Why Ghana?

Why was Ghana chosen, and how does this latest initiative work? For the past 17 years, land administration projects have been implemented in Ghana to try to resolve land disputes. But corruption and nepotism have plagued all areas of the public sector here, making it difficult for them to achieve their goals and consolidate land ownership tracking systems.

However, Bitland aims to register land ownership on the blockchain so that ownership is not only public but also immutable. In this ecosystem, land can be used as equity because currently no bank is willing to provide loans for these unregistered lands.

Larry Christopher Bates, Chief Security Officer at Bitland, recently introduced the project at Netexplo 2016.

“Ghana was a natural choice for us to pilot our solution since it has been struggling with this issue for a long time.”

Bates went on to add,

“Since the Land Management Committee wants to address the transparency issue, a solution based on blockchain technology can guarantee the integrity, transparency and immutability of the public ledger.”

Education and infrastructure

Bitland’s mission is to educate the people of Ghana about blockchain technology and its ability to improve people’s lives. It is estimated that 78% of land in Ghana is currently untitled.

Ronny Boesing explains:

"Clarifying land ownership would reduce corruption and free up trillions of dollars in tied-up capital, because untitled land cannot be used as capital. And it would be impossible to build or buy a home with a mortgage."

The presentation is based on theories and real-life examples from Peruvian economist Hernando De Soto, who is renowned for his work on the importance of business and property ownership and the informal economy.

In a low-income country like Ghana, people are most concerned about meeting basic needs and improving infrastructure such as tap water and roads.

Boesing said:

“The Bitland team will use blockchain technology to help free up tied-up capital and accelerate infrastructure development. It will also eliminate the corruption and malfeasance that has affected these projects in the past.”

However, due to power outages in Ghana, Bitland could not rely on the existing local infrastructure, which would cause great difficulties if it was not understood. In many areas of Ghana, the infrastructure is completely unreliable and large-scale power outages often occur within one to two days. Therefore, implementing electronic solutions in such places is simply not feasible unless appropriate fail-safe precautions are taken.

Therefore, Bitland’s plan is to establish solar-powered operation centers in Ghana that will serve as hardware centers for Bitland’s wireless network system, which will not be affected by power outages. These centers will double in number as local education centers become aware of digital solutions and ways to participate in the project.

Bitland uses OpenLedger platform

Bitland uses the OpenLedger platform as the basis for its blockchain infrastructure. Boesing is also a registered OpenLedger, which will be the decentralized consortium (DC) hosting the Bitland protocol. He explained: "OpenLedger is based on the BitShares platform and has MIT-certified Graphene blockchain technology."

Meanwhile, as more organizations join the OpenLedger/BitShares platform, the team behind this latest move claims that it is certain that this decentralized conglomerate will “exemplify the future of the global economy.” Bitland’s project will bring a ton of opportunities, and mainstream businesses will realize that this is the project they have all been waiting for.

Cadastrals - New Digital Token

Bitland plans to issue a new digital token or currency, Cadastrals, which will serve as the login token for the African blockchain platform. The project will begin with a pilot in Ghana, a country with a population of 26 million and a GDP per capita of $1,858 (2013, data provided by the World Bank).

In fact, Africa today believes that digital currency can improve people's rights and democracy, which has become the greatest hope for the people of developing countries in Africa.

Larry Christopher Bates said:

“To complete the first year of operation, Bitland sold 20 million Cadastrals in its first ICO to build the first Bitland Operations Center. The ICO was conducted by the Danish CCEDK exchange and the funds were escrowed on the OpenLedger platform.”

As the OpenLedger platform grows, capacity will be provided to support the project by adding a voting system so that all communities can directly participate in decision-making.

In addition, the OpenLedger infrastructure system will gradually expand to include real estate, commercial real estate investment, and development in third world countries. The platform will also incorporate Bitland into its own decentralized conglomerate.

Cadastrals are tokens developed specifically for the Bitland ecosystem that have never been used before. Bates noted that the price of the first phase was 10,000 satoshis ($0.04), and the price rose to 30,000 satoshis ($0.12) in the second phase.

The ICO is to raise funds for the Bitland project, and Cadastrals buyers can first invest in developing regions using the Bitland protocol.

“Because ICOs do not represent shares in the company, Cadastrals buyers must support the development project directly through Bitland, while their return on investment is protected by an intermediary payment service.”

The Bitland Fund will be supervised by more relevant government agencies. It is responsible for collecting network fees and any funds from the main reserve and redistributing them to Bitland community projects to achieve direct investment in project infrastructure.

“Bitland will work with the Ghana Land Commission and land administration programs overseen by the World Bank. Bitland will require government cooperation in any country where it operates.”

“The Bitland protocol will eventually enable microloans and their contracts, so that investors can use Cadastrals to help build underdeveloped areas and receive a guaranteed return on their investment.”

Working with governments

Since Bitland is working with the government, government support can ensure that investors will not be taken advantage of, and government supervision can also ensure that the project development direction is consistent with the national direction. At least in theory.

Bitland plans to work with governments around the world to register land titles on the OpenLedger blockchain, an ecosystem that will represent smart contracts and smart cities.

Boesing asserted:

“The OpenLedger platform can help bring transparency to countries where corruption is hindering economic and social development.”

And, people hope that it can bring foreign exchange and investment business to underdeveloped areas, and will not appear that large enterprises take most of the profits. But the core of the Bitland project is not only to register land ownership, but also "this is the first step to bring democracy and management system to the world."

Eventually, people will be able to register land titles, file claims, register disputes, and even buy and sell land using their mobile devices with GPS accuracy.

The first two phases of Bitland

After the first phase of the project is completed, it is envisioned that Bitland will encourage governments and private institutions to offer OpenLedger smart contracts and provide people with opportunities to invest in them (the project pilot is expected to take place in the next 6-9 months).

Organizations such as Kiva have developed methods to issue small loans and achieve a 90% return rate. Since the blockchain can directly track investors and recipients of funds, the returns on investment will go directly to the investors.

This is the main benefit of utilizing blockchain technology, as smart contracts and effective investments make tracking easier. Even the smallest transaction amounts can be tracked.

As blockchain technology develops, initiatives like the Bitland project will bring more development to the technology and provide greater transparency to governments. And as more projects focus on efficiency, transparency and fairness, Boesing is hopeful about the future of the economy that is "open to the people, built for the people, and managed by the people."

Original article: http://www.forbes.com
Translator: slieta5
Editor: Kyle
Source (translation): 8btc Information (http://www.8btc.com/bitlands-african-blockchain-initiative)