Negotiating and closing a real estate transaction is a time-consuming process full of numerous moving pieces that need to come together in perfect succession in order to be executed successfully.
Imagine if that process, which can take upwards of months, could be whittled down to 72 hours?
That’s exactly what ShelterZoom is aiming to achieve by 2021—a lofty goal indeed. We’re setting the stage for an entirely new era in real estate with a next-generation deal, contract and transaction management platform on blockchain that’s set to deliver a new level of transparency, efficiency, security and trust.
Set to launch later this year, Mithra Contract, the world’s first tokenized, industry-agnostic digital contract platform, is already in beta testing. Looking to disrupt how consumers, agents, real estate lawyers and other service providers transact, Mithra Contract is a decentralized contract that can be executed and read by machines, as well as humans. It’s also legally binding.
Representing an evolution from existing paper, smart and Ricardian contracts, Mithra Contract will provide users with myriad online tools, ranging from digital term and contract templates, Google Docs-like real-time negotiation capabilities, consumer- and agent-facing contract engagement, an online chat, a shareable smart contract link, a marketplace for templates, term and contract health check, modern-style document management, and more.
Mithra Contract will be powered by ShelterZoom Mithra Coins (SMC)—utility tokens that help govern transparency—and non-fungible Mithra Tokens, which will record contract details in a secure, immutable format.
Deconstructing the actual terms of a legal contract into a smart contract, contractual parties will hold tokens containing their rights and obligations. These tokens will play a crucial role when it comes to fostering secure, transparent and legally trusted contracts, as Mithra Contracts are completely separate, yet connected, by the matching of contract terms and conditions inherited within those Mithra Tokens.
Turning legal contracts into cryptographic tokens will enable on- and off-chain transferring, trading, auctioning, tracking and execution of legal contracts.
Here’s a look at the evolution of contracts over the years—and the key points of differentiation that Mithra Contract will bring to the table:
- Legal Contract (Thousands of years ago): Human-readable; legally binding; non-machine legally executable
- Smart Contract (1994): Machine-readable; non-legally binding; non-machine legally executable
- Ricardian Contract (1996): Human- and machine-readable; legally binding; non-machine legally executable
- Mithra Contract (2019): Human- and machine-readable; legally binding; machine legally executable; immutable; transparent
Mithra Contract will also offer the following features (none of which are available via traditional real estate transaction management platforms):
- Deal management
- Instant offer and deal-making
- Virtual negotiation room
- The ability to bid publicly or deal privately
- Fully digital end-to-end transactions
- Fractional ownership
- Ownership transfer
- A glance of all offers or bids
- Side-by-side contract review
- Customizable user rights and privileges
- GitHub-like contract term editing
- Term and contract intelligence and analytics
- Google Docs-like collaboration and review
- Community engagement
- Blockchain eSignature
- Decentralization
We’re excited to be at the forefront of this new era that’s set to change the real estate transaction game as we know it.
Chao Cheng-Shorland is chief executive officer of ShelterZoom Corp. For more information, please visit www.shelterzoom.com and www.mithracontract.com.