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California’s Department of Motor Vehicles is taking a new step to prevent fraud — simply uploading 42 million car titles to the blockchain.
The DMV partnered with tech company Oxhead Alpha to put the titles on Ava Labs’s Avalanche blockchain, which the collaborators say will allow more than 39 million Californians to claim and access their vehicle titles through a mobile app, a first in the U.S. It’s expected to be available in early 2025.
They say that Avalanche’s “smart contracts” will allow consumers to track and manage their titles digitally, cutting down on traffic to the DMV and the post office. It may also provide an early-warning system for fraud, according to the DMV and its tech partners.
“As consumers continue to demand more automation and expect the ability to transact life online, widespread adoption of secure systems is possible with blockchain infrastructure,” Oxhead Alpha president Andrew Smith said in a statement. “These systems have historically been accessible by large financial institutions but have done little for regular citizens.”
The move comes as part of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plans to capitalize on and encourage the development of cryptocurrency and web3 companies, while creating a layout for regulatory and consumer protections. Newsom in May 2022 issued an executive order directing his agencies to explore ways to use blockchain technology to improve public services and address gaps in programs.
Dee Dee Myers, senior advisor to Newsom and director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, told CNBC in 2022 that the “opportunities are almost endless.” Myers explained that California could use the technology to remove middlemen from real estate deals or car sales, protect peoples’ identities, and provide benefits through government services.
Deloitte, one of the big four accounting firms, in 2021 teamed up with Ava Labs to create a new disaster recovery platform based on the Avalanche blockchain. Its purpose was to help state and local governments simplify and streamline their disaster reimbursement applications to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Both J.P. Morgan and Citibank have also explored using the Avalanche network.