Bergen County has entered into a five-year partnership with blockchain startup Balcony to digitize and secure 370, 000 property deeds, representing approximately $240 billion in real estate value. Utilizing Avalanche’s blockchain infrastructure, this initiative is the largest deed tokenization project in U. S. history and seeks to modernize public records across all 70 municipalities in New Jersey’s most populous county. County Clerk John Hogan, a member of Governor Murphy’s blockchain task force, explained that the system will enable residents to access property records from home, reduce fraud, and enhance accessibility. The digitization effort is projected to decrease deed processing times by more than 90%, while safeguarding against ransomware attacks, which increasingly target state and local governments.

Balcony’s platform provides an immutable chain of title, simplifying ownership transfers and facilitating more intelligent public data usage. Balcony CEO Dan Silverman described the project as “a turning point” for real estate and government infrastructure, noting similar partnerships are in progress in Camden, Orange, Morristown, and Fort Lee. With Balcony’s broader rollout, over 460, 000 properties in New Jersey alone will be brought on-chain, as jurisdictions nationwide explore blockchain technology to improve transparency, efficiency, and public trust.