Auction Is on Blockchain! Auction OK�s Blockchain Auction Technology Now Registered Patent

SEOUL, South Korea–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#Auction—NEXTIB, the PropTech company behind the blockchain-based online real estate auction platform Auction OK, announced that its patent application filed last November was successful. This marks the first such patent for an online real estate auction (Patent No. 10-2250084).

Last year, NEXTIB filed a patent application for a method of providing real estate auction service with the Korean Intellectual Property Office. The patent includes the encryption of auction bids and the storage and management of such information on a blockchain network, which prevents unauthorized manipulation of the bids entered online. In addition, providing a contactless blockchain property platform, this technology also significantly eliminates inconvenience of a conventional auction system which requires bidders to be present at each bid site.

The patent also includes a method of encrypting multiple bid logs after the conclusion of each auction sale. Auction OK platform encrypts all properly entered bids so that the information about the bid price is hidden from everyone. After the bidding period is over, the bids encrypted into the blockchain network are decrypted to be compared and the winning bid selected. This allows the winning bid amount to be compared and verified with the one recorded in the value encrypted in the blockchain and ensures that there was no data compromise.

The bidding records are stored on the Klaytn network, a mainnet platform created by GroundX, a blockchain subsidiary of Kakao. The network boasts high-speed block creation and expansion, as well as superb stability. Auction OK explained that auction participants could check the encrypted auction history at any time, which virtually eliminates any possibility of data manipulation.

Auction OK is Korea’s first contactless property auction service that uses blockchain technology to secure a transparent auction bidding process for the public. The possibility is endless with this trusted online auction platform. Using the same blockchain auction platform, the company has already held a charity NFT auction and event auctions for luxury goods and electronics. With the successful patent registration, Auction OK’s online auction platform is expected to grow in customer confidence.

On obtaining the patent, Lee Jang Woo, the manager of the blockchain lab, said, “There are already examples of online real-estate auction businesses abroad such as Ten-X and Taobao.” He added, “Even as contactless and mobile industry has grown exponentially with the expansion of online services, auctions stuck to its 20th-century analog method. With Auction OK’s patent, auctions will trust and utilize blockchain and move onto the mobile world in the future.”

NEXTIB’s plan this year includes improving the user interface to make it easier for real estate agents to list unsold/urgent sales and offering a wider variety of listings that includes agricultural lands, apartments, single homes, and commercial buildings.

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James Kang

Business Development Director

james.kang@nextib.co.kr