RWA track star project Propy: Breaking through the pain points of traditional real estate transactions, making transactions safer and more convenient

Author: Weilin, PANews

The RWA sector has recently made significant new progress. In mid-August, BUIDL, Superstate, and Ondo Finance, under BlackRock, planned to apply for a $1 billion tokenization plan for U.S. Treasury bonds through MakerDAO. The goal of this plan is to tokenize $1 billion of real-world assets (RWA) and introduce them to MakerDAO. Given its investment scale, it is expected to have a tremendous impact on the development of RWA protocols.

Data also indicates the rising popularity of RWA. According to the Q2 2024 crypto industry report released by CoinGecko, the RWA sector accounted for 11.3% of network traffic in the second quarter, second only to meme tokens, which contributed 14.34% of the traffic. These figures suggest that the RWA sector is gaining increasing attention and is poised to become the next leader in crypto wealth growth. Data from RWA.xyz shows that as of August 26, the on-chain assets in the RWA sector (excluding stablecoins) reached $11.66 billion, primarily concentrated in private credit, U.S. Treasury bonds, and commodities.

In fact, beyond the common treasury-related RWA projects, the intersection of real estate and blockchain is nurturing many opportunities. Some long-established projects continue to innovate but have not gained widespread public attention. This article will introduce a project that has long been listed on Coinbase yet remains low-profile—Propy. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, Propy has become a star project by reducing costs, simplifying processes, and enhancing transaction security. In recent months, Propy announced collaborations with the decentralized real estate derivatives protocol Parcl and the oracle network Chainlink. These collaborations have enhanced Propy's technical capabilities and injected more favorable factors, making it one of the most innovative projects in the RWA sector.

Bringing Real Assets On-Chain to Increase Liquidity and Accessibility in Real Estate

Traditional real estate transactions face many pain points, such as high property costs, lack of transparency, low efficiency, and fraud risks. Propy aims to address these issues by bringing real estate assets on-chain and leveraging blockchain technology to provide secure and convenient services for real estate transactions. As of August 26, Propy's transaction volume has exceeded $5 billion.

Propy's founder is Natalia Karayaneva, a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in real estate development. The other co-founder, Denitza Tyufekchieva, has expertise in blockchain, real estate, and business development. Propy raised $7.7 million in funding in August 2017 and received investments from Arrington Capital and renowned venture capitalist Tim Draper in October 2020.

Propy has three core products: the Propy real estate trading platform, Propy title and escrow services, and PropyKeys. The Propy real estate trading platform utilizes smart contracts, RWA, and blockchain technology to provide end-to-end property transaction services for agents and clients. This platform's innovations not only enhance transaction transparency but also simplify the transaction process and reduce costs.

The second core product is the blockchain-based title and escrow service, which ensures transaction security while supporting traditional title transfer processes.

Propy's third core product, PropyKeys, is based on the Ethereum Layer 2 network Base, enabling the tokenization of real estate. In March of this year, PropyKeys was officially opened to the public. Users can mint and store on-chain addresses corresponding to physical properties and title certificates through the PropyKeys app, thereby earning PRO tokens. PropyKeys is also a "gamified" platform that has introduced a staking mechanism to reward users for staking real estate NFTs and allows users to mint AI-generated global landmark NFTs for personalized customization. This introduction of tokenization and staking mechanisms provides users with more investment and earning opportunities, further boosting market activity. As of August 26, PropyKeys has seen 268,618 addresses minted.

Through its three core products, Propy combines blockchain technology to significantly enhance the security and efficiency of real estate transactions. The distributed ledger technology of blockchain ensures that all participants can view transaction histories, preventing tampering or fraud. Each step of the transaction is recorded on the blockchain, allowing any relevant party to track it in real-time, thus reducing issues caused by human negligence or errors.

Propy enhances the efficiency of real estate transactions by automatically executing transaction terms through smart contracts, reducing reliance on intermediaries and human intervention, thereby simplifying the transaction process.

Through blockchain technology, Propy also enhances the security of real estate transactions. According to FundingShield's Q1 2024 fraud analysis report, 48% of loans processed in Q1 2024 had at least one risk factor leading to wire and title fraud. Although this percentage has decreased from the record levels of Q4 2023, it is still considered high.

When title fraud occurs, fraudsters steal the homeowner's identity, forge documents, and transfer property ownership without the homeowner's knowledge. They then submit these false documents and quickly sell the property, leaving the real homeowner and unsuspecting buyers to deal with the consequences. This type of fraud not only causes losses for homeowners but also poses serious legal and financial risks for buyers.

From the perspective of traditional methods to prevent title fraud, reliance on paper documents and manual verification leads to slow processing speeds and a high likelihood of errors, making modern digital solutions particularly necessary. Propy's Propy KYC (Know Your Customer) and POF (Proof of Funds) tools aim to further reduce the risks associated with property transfers. These tools enable agents to verify the identity of potential buyers and confirm the legitimacy of their funds, whether in cash or cryptocurrency. By reducing fraud risks and identifying legitimate buyers, all parties can ensure the security and credibility of transactions.

Collaborating with Leading Projects to Promote the Development of the RWA Sector

Propy has recently shown significant growth momentum and successfully established partnerships with several key collaborators to drive project development.

As Propy's core product, PropyKeys launched its Dapp on Base in March, marking a new growth point for Propy. In April, PropyKeys integrated Chainlink Automation on Base to distribute staking rewards. The oracle network Chainlink's Automation allows developers to automate key on-chain functions at set time intervals or in response to external events, thereby enhancing the user experience, efficiency, and reducing the likelihood of human errors in decentralized protocols. The collaboration not only enhances the functionality of PropyKeys but also strengthens the overall stability and reliability of its platform.

In early July, renowned private equity fund manager Grant Cardone listed his $42 million Florida mansion for sale on the Propy platform, marking Propy's further expansion into the high-end real estate market, enhancing Propy's market visibility and attracting more attention from high-net-worth clients. Grant Cardone lists his $42 million Florida mansion for sale on the Propy platform

On July 19, Propy and the decentralized real estate derivatives protocol Parcl announced a strategic partnership to enhance the quality of on-chain property analysis and valuation. Propy will utilize Parcl's API to improve valuation and analytical capabilities related to PropyKeys.

With numerous favorable factors, Propy is nurturing potential opportunities, with its native token PRO used for accessing platform services and rewarding users in the gamified Propy experience.

Since the launch of PropyKeys and its dApp, Propy's footprint and adoption rate in major U.S. real estate markets have been continuously expanding, with plans for global expansion in 2024. Propy's global expansion plan will further promote the development of the RWA sector and bring innovative solutions to more users and markets.

At the same time, the entire RWA sector is also thriving, providing Propy with broader market prospects. According to a BCG report, the global RWA market is expected to reach $16 trillion by 2030. Currently, traditional financial giants such as Citigroup, BlackRock, Fidelity, and JPMorgan have all entered the market. The participation of these financial giants not only proves the enormous potential of the RWA market but also provides strong support for the future development of Propy and other innovative projects.