TOKENIZED PROPERTY OWNERSHIP: LEGAL RECOGNITION AND COMPLIANCE FRAMEWORK

Abstract Fractional ownership of real estate using the issuance of a token or cryptocurrency is possible due to the blockchain technology known as tokenized real estate. This innovation increases the liquidity of the market, increases access by its investors, and decreasing traditional barriers to entry. Nonetheless, the majority of jurisdictions do not have a formal legal acceptance or established compliance arrangements on such resources. The issue that will hinder decentralized ledger and smart contract adoption is the lack of harmonized legal instruments even after the technical maturity has been achieved. Other problems like the controversy of suspicion, identity verification, and registration of the title are in need of immediate regulatory intervention. This paper suggests Although there have been these technological advancements, there have been a lack respectively behind the idea of legal-tech of compliance to harmonize the tokenized real estate with its current property law regimes. Based on the comparative legal studies and technical guidelines like ERC-3643, the framework touches four main areas, (1) applying the legal status of tokens as property, (2) the enforceability of smart contracts in real estate deals, (3) the implementation of Know Your Customer (KYC), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, and (4) enabling the cross-chain interoperability of blockchains and the national land registry. The paper recommends specific policy actions based on pilot projects conducted in nations such as Australia, Serbia and Bahrain that have been outlined to aid the creation of a well-organized, secure and legally viable digital property environment that is also scalable.