MISMO Seeks Blockchain Working Group Members
MISMO launched a new group to discuss the potential for using Bblockchain in the industry and invited interested parties to participate.
The Blockchain Community of Practice will explore this emerging technology to understand where and how it could be used within the mortgage industry as well as what might be required to implement the technology. Participants will also gain access to blockchain experts and related educational materials that explain blockchain technology–a list of records, called blocks, linked together and secured using cryptography.
“As the development and use of digital mortgage tools continues to accelerate, there is a real potential for our industry to leverage blockchain technology to improve transparency and reduce costs, which are the key goals of any mortgage banking operation,” said Factom Chief Operating Officer Laurie Pyle. “By joining the new Blockchain Community of Practice, mortgage industry participants have the opportunity to be on the ground floor of this exciting new technology and to provide input on new standards and best practices that may soon revolutionize the world of mortgage finance.”
Blockchain technology is increasingly being explored for use throughout the financial services industry to enable faster and more secure digital transactions. Blockchain is based on digitized and distributed “ledgers” or databases that are shared and synchronized across multiple sites to record transactions, similar to an accounting ledger. Distributed ledgers could serve as a single “source of truth” for specified industry documents, data and/or transactions and could help lenders reduce compliance burdens, improve data quality and lower costs.
Shawn Jobe, Director of Software Development at Factual Data and a member of the MISMO Residential Standards Governance Committee, said the MISMO Blockchain Community of Practice will provide a forum for industry participants to discuss their business and technology challenges. “And we’ll be able to collaborate on developing a collection of best practices for using distributed ledger technology and MISMO standards to verify loan transactions on a blockchain network,” he said. “Any organization involved in the mortgage industry, including lenders, software vendors, third-party service providers and public agencies are invited to participate.”
Jobe said the goals of the MISMO Blockchain Community are to develop standards for using distributed ledger technology and MISMO standards to:
–Define a collection of practices for achieving interoperability within a blockchain network using distributed ledger technology and MISMO standards.
–Define how transactions and transactional data are recorded and/or referenced on blockchain-based distributed ledgers using the MISMO standards.
–Create prototypes, or possibly a blockchain network, using distributed ledger technology and smart contracts based on MISMO standards.
–Develop guidance on how mortgage data will be represented on a blockchain network.
–Perform industry education and outreach on blockchain technologies.
Individuals who wish to participate in this industry-wide effort should send an email titled “Join MISMO’s Blockchain Community” to info@mismo.org by close of business Friday, April 20. More information on this industry-wide effort is available at http://www.mismo.org/get-started/participate-in-a-mismo-workgroup/blockchain-community-of-practice.
