It's much easier to deal with programmatically, much more secure, eliminates redundancy and waste, and removes intermediaries.

An electronic signature is just a digital version of your handwritten signature. A cryptographically signed token tied to your identity is unforgeable in comparison.

Right now, you not only need PDF documents and electronic signatures, but you need to redundantly maintain systems to store that information and make it available to easily search on the internet. PDFs and images are not designed for that. Imagine that, instead of each county or state having to maintain their own systems of record, duplicating effort and data, they all use the same blockchain technology, allowing you to query them all the same way. You wouldn't even have to visit their website because the data would be available for anyone to retrieve and verify. That eliminates all the crappy websites and systems that we use, with all their differences.

Let me use examples from my own county of Greenville, SC. In order to obtain a copy of a "certified document", I have to pay $10 for a special PDF. Why? There shouldn't even be a need for a "copy". If there was one blockchain with all the data there, why would I even need a copy? I could just point to the original deed, and anyone who wanted to verify it could just look at it. If I lookup the information on my property, I get a crappy sideways scan of a PDF showing past/current owners. That is the result of using outdated technology. If I wanted a nice view of the information on record, they would have to do a separate data entry by reading the PDF and typing it into some database somewhere. Why? It could lead to typing mistakes or be out of sync with the actual record. If the record itself was digital from the beginning, there is no risk of this happening.

In order to transfer property, what do I do? I need to alter the deed by giving my signature, having two witnesses, and obtaining a court acknowledgement. Even to simply acknowledge that I have paid off my mortgage, I have to obtain a signature from a "authorized representative" and have one or more witnesses. What does that look like in a crypto world? Well I have the key that authorizes me to transfer my property token. If someone wants to buy my house, they could simply pay, and a smart contract would automatically transfer the deed to them once the funds were securely in my possession. No need for a court, or witnesses, or anything. The transfer would automatically be reflected in the public record. Some current systems warn that assessor records may not be updated for several months after a deed is recorded, although they say the web page is refreshed daily with information processed the day before. There's no need for that. It only happens because we have both physical and digital records that can be out of sync with one another.

If I pay off my mortgage, I could have the deed automatically updated and ownership transferred to me the minute the funds clear, which would take no longer than an hour or two to confirm. There's no need to involve any intermediaries or bank representatives. In a crypto world, you could even setup complex transfers in this way. For example, you could have multiple property owners for a single property, with all of their own keys required to sign off on a sale or it doesn't happen, and with the money automatically distributed according to a mutually agreed upon contract.

It's not just about records. You actually enable functionality like buying or selling once things like deeds are tokenized. The records also can't be "lost" if they are part of a public, immutable, distributed blockchain. If there were ever to be some kind of computer failure, you would setup a new computer and it could connect to the national blockchain (as long as even one computer is up and running) and restore everything. You get automatic backups for free.

I'm sure you've sold or bought things like cars before. It's always a bit tricky. Who wants to carry around thousands in cash, especially when dealing with a complete stranger? Then you have to have the title signed, which could be done incorrectly, and then you need to register your car. Afterwards the DMV will give you a temporary registration, and mail you the new title. All of that hassle could be eliminated. You could digitally buy the car, and then the title could be updated immediately. You don't need to worry about maintaining or protecting the title yourself.

We are looking at a whole new world when the technology gets there. Law firms will need programmers who specialize in digital contracts. It'll be interesting.