Aerial view of vehicles traveling near downtown Los Angeles, California during the afternoon commute on April 4, 2022. Photo by Mario Tama via Getty Images
The California Department of Transportation has decided to upload 42 million vehicle titles onto a blockchain as a new measure to prevent fraud.
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The DMV has partnered with technology company Oxhead Alpha to register vehicle titles on Ava Labs’ Avalanche Blockchain, which collaborators say will allow more than 39 million Californians to apply for and access vehicle titles through a mobile app, a first for the U.S. The app is expected to be available in early 2025.
Avalanche’s “smart contracts” allow consumers to digitally track and manage ownership, reducing trips to DMVs and post offices, and the system could also serve as an early warning system for fraud, according to the DMV and its technology partners.
“As consumers continue to demand more automation and expect to transact online, blockchain foundations will enable widespread adoption of secure systems,” Oxhead Alpha president Andrew Smith said in a statement. “Historically, these systems have been accessible to large financial institutions but have been of little use to the average citizen.”
The move comes as part of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to leverage and encourage the development of cryptocurrencies and Web3 companies while creating a regulatory and consumer protection framework. Newsom issued an executive order in May 2022 directing agencies to explore ways in which blockchain technology can be used to improve public services and address program gaps.
“The opportunities are nearly endless,” DeeDee Myers, senior adviser to Governor Newsom and director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, told CNBC in 2022. Myers explained that California can use technology to cut the middleman out of real estate transactions and car sales, protect people’s identities and provide benefits through government services.
Deloitte, one of the Big Four accounting firms, partnered with Ava Labs in 2021 to build a new disaster recovery platform based on the Avalanche blockchain to help state and local governments simplify and streamline disaster claims to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. JP Morgan and Citibank are also considering using the Avalanche network.
