The genesis of Bitcoin in 2008 was precisely to allow this type of transaction and business to become more common and possible.
In January 2022, La Haus, a state-of-the-art real estate company, closed a sale in Rivera de Maya, Mexico; and thanks to the cutting-edge technology used by La Haus, the payment in cryptocurrencies was integrated into the purchase process. More recently, in the south of Chile, a young man managed to buy a property by paying with three cryptocurrencies that he had saved Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin.
However, before that, there have been other crypto real estate deals in the Latin American region. For example, the real estate company Candoli Properties, based in Argentina, incorporated payments with the Shiba Inu puppy token (SHIB), although it had already accepted other cryptos before. Likewise, the Latin American e-commerce platform MercadoLibre launched in 2021 an official section for real estate trading through cryptocurrency payments for clients in Argentina. In addition, in other countries, in the absence of this official section, the users of the mentioned platform themselves list products, services, and goods (including houses and apartments) that can be paid with crypto.
It is evident that more and more news is coming about the sale or rental of real estate with cryptocurrencies. At the beginning of February, there was the first purchase of a property with Bitcoin as a means of payment in Colombia. Before, the same real estate company had made a sale in Mexico.
On this occasion, the most recent news from the real estate sector comes from two countries: Chile and Spain.
Property with Three Cryptocurrencies
The Chilean media this week spread the news that a young man from Temuco, in the south of Chile, acquired a property thanks to the savings he had had for 3 years in Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin. The name of the buyer is unknown.
The transaction took place in November 2021. The acquired property is located near the ski slopes of the Llaima volcano and the Conguillío National Park, in La Araucanía, where the land alone is worth between 20 and 60 million pesos (about USD $25,000 to 75,000).
The real estate managers RE/MAX mediated the operation, as reported by Joan Sandoval, associate real estate agent at RE/MAX Cordillera in Pucón, “Today we have at least five clients evaluating a purchase in cryptocurrencies through Criptomarket, which is an international platform that is in charge of managing the operation as a digital stockbroker.”
Storage Rooms Paid with Bitcoin
In Spain, where rental operations are extremely important, cryptocurrencies are increasingly becoming a favored means of payment. The storage room (or warehouse) rental company Guardatodo, located in Zaragoza, decided to incorporate Bitcoin as an option to pay for spaces to store furniture or other objects.
It will not happen immediately, as the company wants to incorporate crypto by the end of this year, according to reports. “We do not want to close doors to anyone. If the future involves having and using Bitcoins – and there will be more and more people in this field – it is important to adapt and not be left behind,” said Iñaki Martínez, its financial director.
According to the country’s media, this company is the only one in Spain in the storage area that is incorporating crypto.
“Just like you can pay through bizum, we want to make it easier for the customer to have yet another payment method,” continues Martínez, who says that if large and international companies do so, they do not want to lag behind:
“If they are doing it, we want it to be possible from the local level as well. As if you want to buy bread in Bitcoins, but we should not close ourselves to having only legal tender.”
They will start with Bitcoin first; later, they hope to incorporate other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Shiba Inu, or Solana. They added that they are “working on being able to develop Guardatodo in the metaverse.” That is, warehouses for that virtual universe.
By Audy Castaneda
