Portugal Records First-Ever Real Estate Purchase through Bitcoin
Buying a Home With Bitcoin
According to a local news outlet in Portugal, the deal was for a T3 apartment in Braga, costing the buyer exactly 3 Bitcoin (BTC) which is worth about 102,000 euros, or 108,000 dollars, at current prices.
The purchase was made possible through a new rule that became effective last month that directed real estate agents as to how owners and real estate agents could sell properties for cryptocurrency directly.
Under the new rule, users can directly interact with real estate properties through crypto and do not need to convert them to Euros, unlike the old rule.
“This act represents a historic step, the transfer of a digital asset to a physical asset a house without any conversion into euros”, Zome, a local real estate agency that facilitated the transaction said.
Real Estate Giants Flocking to Crypto
In November, Latin American Proptech firm La Haus began accepting Bitcoin for home payments through integration with Bitcoin payment processor OpenNode. The company sold a Mexican apartment for 5.78 Bitcoin in January.
In late April, Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based luxury real estate developer DAMAC Properties announced that it would soon begin accepting Bitcoin payments for the sale of real estate in the region.