The past year saw a surge of interest in cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, as well as in the technology that makes such products possible: the blockchain. And a number of possible commercial real estate uses for the blockchain are emerging.

The blockchain is a distributed ledger — every new trade or sale (a “block”) is recorded throughout a network of computers (creating a “chain” of such blocks) — which means it can authenticate and track transactions without multiple intermediaries, in real time in an immutable ledger, in support of peer-to-peer transactions.

“This concept gives investors a more intuitive way of issuing and managing assets. Now that many industries are beginning to understand the technology’s complexity, people are brainstorming new ways of using it so that they fall on the right side of this business disruption,” notes How Blockchain Technology Is Rebuilding the Commercial Real Estate Industry, a research report from DBRS