The vision of de Soto and Byrne is a simple one: by making property rights and claims of individuals publicly recorded and globally verified, they can enable the poor to safely unlock the value of their land; help to mollify disputes by clearly stating who claims what property; and empower local land ownership. The venture, announced in December 2017, pairs de Soto’s decades worth of reform experience as the founder of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy think tank with Patrick Byrne’s enthusiasm for bitcoin and the capabilities of its underlying blockchain technology. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, both men discussed the purpose of their ambitious undertaking.De Soto Inc. aims to create a global property registry blockchain as a utility that will unlock dead capital, help five billion people have modernized property rights, give information necessary to settle property conflicts/disputes and to fight terrorism by undermining terrorists’ business model. From de Soto’s perspective, the prospect of having the logistical and entrepreneurial support of Patrick Byrne and Medici Ventures behind his vision was important. With Byrne and Medici at his side, de Soto hopes the new venture will highlight the differences between government views on property rights and the actual reality of property rights. The noted economist stated, “For me it’s very simple. I’ve been behind what blockchain means for the world for a while, and the whole issue [of property ownership] was a natural meeting place for us. It’s the entrepreneurial ability and the strength of Patrick to be able to pull all of these things together.” Handling Multiple Property Ownership Systems on One BlockchainProperty laws around the world vary wildly based on country, political/religious systems and particular ideologies. China, for example, does not allow citizens to “own” property, but rather lease it from the government (albeit some leases are for up to 99 years). Other countries with nomadic histories can have more lax views on property ownership than western counterparts.The idea of individuals owning private property as a “freehold estate” that they can pass on to other generations is not ubiquitous. De Soto Inc. addressed how they would manage to account for all of these different types of property ownership systems on a single blockchain. De Soto emphasized that they were not trying to give any opinion or show preference for one type of property system or one country’s system over others. “What we’re doing is providing all sides information as to how actually the informal economy holds its assets on the basis
