Crypto real estate: villa in Marbella accepts BTC

Marbella, Spain, sees a new case of real estate in crypto: the owner of a €4.3 million villa has decided to put it up for sale by accepting Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). 

Real estate in crypto: the case of the Marbella villa and more

According to an anonymous source, it appears it is possible to sell and buy real estate in crypto also in the city of Marbella in Spain. 

It is a villa put up for sale at a price of €4.3 million that has added Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as payment methods. 

The long crypto winter is not stopping what has been referred to as “real estate in crypto,” which, although still uncommon, seems to be nothing new.

Indeed, there have already been other cases around the world where real estate has been purchased in cryptocurrencies, especially in BTC. 

Portugal: Braga house sold for 3 BTC

In contrast to the villa in Marbella, a house in Braga, Portugal, was sold directly for 3 BTC, without conversion to euros and resulting in the country’s first transaction for this kind of 100% crypto purchase. 

According to reports, in May 2022, the three-bedroom apartment located in Braga was the first to see a transaction entirely in crypto, worth an equivalent value at the time of 110,000 euros. 

This was made possible through the deed to this home, signed in Póvoa de Varzim, district of Porto, which accepted the revolutionary innovative payment method, and with the participation of Zome and the ECIJA law firm in Antas da Cunha, Bastonário dos Notários in Portugal and other Crypto Valley partners in Switzerland.

In this regard, Carlos Santos, CTO of Zome said:

“The future of brokerage will arrive via crypto-assets, so we believe this transaction will kick off a whole new world of possible business.”

US: the first BTC real estate purchase in Texas in 2017 and the involvement of NFTs

Moving to the United States, it is easy to find news regarding the first real estate purchase in Bitcoin recorded in Texas “way back” in 2017. 

Without revealing the purchase amount, it seems that the property located in the central part of Austin, an affluent neighborhood known as the world capital of live music and tech sector growth, Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty was the first brokerage agency to close the deal. 

As with the case in Portugal, the Texas house was also purchased entirely in Bitcoin (BTC). 

Yet another case of real estate in crypto involving also NFTs occurred in Gulfport, Florida, through the startup Propy. 

Much more recently (February 2022), it appears that the 2,164-square-meter house was sold at auction for $653,000 (210 ETH) and the winning bidder was awarded a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) as proof of ownership of the house.

A new experiment with crypto and real estate that, along with accepting ETH for buying and selling a house, wanted to attach an NFT as proof of ownership even though it is not yet tied to the deed but to the ownership of an LLC that owns the physical asset. 

The startup claims that NFTs can be used as collateral for borrowers and cryptocurrency investors. In this regard, Propy CEO Natalia Karayaneva said:

“We’ve gotten hundreds and hundreds of requests from sellers to sell their homes all over the U.S.The next big sale will be in Tampa again, it’s a condo that is worth between $200,000 to $300,000.”

Italy: physical home worth €940,000 sold in crypto along with LAND in the metaverse and NFT for certification

In Milan, however, during May 2022, a famous film director sold his €940,000 home in cryptocurrency, thanks to Sanremo-based luxury real estate portal Luxforsale handling the real estate transaction. 

The case then saw a gift to the buyer of 3 LAND in the metaverse and an NFT for virtual authentic certification of the property. 

So not only real estate in crypto, but also NFTs and the metaverse were involved in the original deed of sale of the apartment in Piazza Cinque Giornate in Milan. 

After all, it is not a novelty that real estate is also an explosive sector of the metaverse. It is enough to think of the investments that have been made on the large Sandbox and Decentraland platforms in real estate. 

The reasons to use cryptocurrencies to buy a home according to BitPay

The renowned US provider of Bitcoin and crypto payment services, BitPay, has published a list of reasons why people would want to use cryptocurrencies to buy a home. 

Here are Bitpay’s reasons:

• Investment diversification: buying real estate with cryptocurrencies can offer stability;
• Cash in for retirement: after a career of investing in cryptocurrencies, you may be – ready to retire by choosing to buy a home in crypto rather than selling your assets. 
• Discounted sales price for crypto payments: if a seller is particularly supportive of crypto, they may offer a discount on real estate purchases made with crypto.
• Faster transactions: blockchain technology and smart contracts can eliminate traditional wait times and middlemen from real estate.

Of course, in contrast, BitPay also specifies what can be seen as disadvantages, such as the reluctance of sellers to accept cryptocurrency payments and the daily fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices that affect purchasing power.