Should bitcoin be used to buy and sell properties?

Dec 13 , 2017

This mansion in Russia, listed by Moscow-based Kalinka Group, may be sold for bitcoin.

Analysts say it will be years before bitcoin can be used to buy and sell properties, but recent listings reveal that interest is keen

A house in the fashionable London district of Notting Hill recently went on sale for £17 million (HK$177.6 million). The asking price did not raise any eyebrows among wealthy investors since the six-storey house is in an upmarket area. What was surprising was that the owner wanted to be paid in bitcoin, the digital currency which has been grabbing headlines all the world.

The owner wanted 5,000 bitcoin for the mansion, which in 2010 would have only been sufficient to have bought a pizza.

Property agents say this would be the first transaction of its kind in the highly liquid property market in London.

But the property isn’t the first ‘bitcoin mansion’ on the market. In 2013, a commercial developer asked US$7.85 million to sell a home Las Vegas, and was willing to accept bitcoin for the deal. Earlier this year, a Russian real estate firm, Kalinka Group, advertised the sale of an upmarket property for 3000 bitcoin in Rublevo-Uspenskoe. However, the Russian government has not finalised legislation and the regulatory frameworks regarding cryptocurrency.

Inside the Nikolino mansion in the Rublevo-Uspenskoe neighbourhood.

Bitcoin’s value has increased more than tenfold this year alone. In January, bitcoin hit US$1,000 in designated trading exchanges. By May, it had doubled in value to US$2,000, and active currency investors began flocking to buy the digital currency.

Banking at a bitcoin ATM in Vilnius, Lithuania. Photo: Reuters

By July, bitcoin had scaled the US$6,000 summit, one month later it had advanced to US$8,000. By the end of November, bitcoin was trading at a staggering US$16,000. At the time of publishing, bitcoin is trading at US$17,643.