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Bergen County, New Jersey’s most populous county with nearly one million residents, is making history with a bold leap into blockchain.
The county has signed a five-year partnership with real estate infrastructure firm Balcony to digitize and tokenize its entire real estate deed system using Avalanche blockchain, Avalanche announced Thursday.
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This initiative will migrate over 370,000 property records — approximately $240 billion in real estate — on-chain, marking what Avalanche describes as the largest blockchain deed tokenization project in U.S. history.
By bringing records on-chain, the county aims to cut deed settlement times from 90 days to just one. The system will also make documents instantly accessible, digitally searchable and tamper-proof, which helps reduce fraud and improve transparency.
John Hogan | County Clerk of Bergen County
“This initiative is about improving the lives of our residents,” County Clerk of Bergen County John Hogan said in a statement. “By digitizing property records, we are making the process simpler, faster, and more secure for homeowners, businesses, and future generations. Our plan is to use this forward-thinking approach to enhance transparency, reduce delays, and protect against hacks.”
The move from Bergen County comes as municipalities across the state look to modernize outdated systems that are vulnerable to ransomware and data loss. In 2023 alone, 23 municipalities in the state were hit by ransomware attacks, leaving some towns to pay up to $1 million per breach to restore systems.
Tokenizing property records helps harden public infrastructure against these threats, while also streamlining public service.
Other New Jersey municipalities, including Camden, Orange, Morristown and Fort Lee, are also in talks with Balcony to follow Bergen’s lead. Together, these efforts could bring more than $290 billion in real estate on-chain across the state.
Gregg Lester | President of Balcony
In Orange, the platform has already helped recover nearly $1 million in previously uncollected tax revenue.
“Property records form the foundation of trust between governments and the communities they serve,” Gregg Lester, president of Balcony, said. “By bringing this critical infrastructure on-chain, we’re not only streamlining operations but also safeguarding public trust.”
