Bitcoin has been gaining acceptance around the world.
Most recently we have seen several countries start to offer large scale items for sale in bitcoin.
From apartments in Dubai to million dollar all terrain vehicles, the list of items being put up for sale in bitcoin is increasing by the week.
The latest news comes from the United States. A house in Florida to be precise.
According to the news, Eric Fernandez, the owner of Sol/Mar Real Estate has listed a $3.5 million penthouse at the Blue Diamond in Miami Beach, saying the owners would accept bitcoin or ether as a form of payment.
Interesting, so it's not only for sale in bitcoin, ether would also be accepted. This marks the first time I have heard of a house being put up for sale in cryptocurrency for anything other than bitcoin.
Why Bitcoin (or Ether)?
Fernandez says that he believes it is only a matter of time before real estate purchases made in cryptocurrency start to gain in popularity.
His opinion is, not surprisingly, shared by many others in the real estate industry as the wave of bitcoin has been taking the world by storm lately.
Some have even noticed that international buyers are preferring to pay in bitcoin. Gee I wonder why?!
Either way, Miami is expected to be a leader of this growing trend.
Miami offers investors from South America, Canada, Asia and Russia a way to quickly purchase property in the States.
There are still challenges of course.
Obviously paying in bitcoin is not quite as simple as it may sound on the surface.
For one, there is no escrow agent like there is with a traditional real estate purchase.
Then you also have to factor in how much prices tend to move. Bitcoin fell by more than $1000 in less than 24 hours last week. Then it rallied by almost an equal amount a few days later.
That kind of volatility is great for traders and speculators but makes buying things difficult.
In fact there was a story a few months back where someone accepted payment for their house in bitcoin, and then held on to those coins instead of converting them to fiat. He ended up making an additional $1.3 million for his speculation.
That's great when it works out like that, but what about when prices go the other way?
A trend that is likely to continue?
As bitcoin remains in the news on a daily basis, I think we will continue to see its use cases only increase.
Though, at some point the technology will have to catch up with the demand if it really is going to be a viable means of exchange.
If it doesn't, perhaps a different cryptocurrency will take its place.
I'm looking at you steem!
Stay informed my friends.
Sources:
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/miami-realtors-bullish-accepting-bitcoin-list-3-5-million-condo/
Image Sources:
https://www.zoni.edu/miami-beach-fl/
http://www.litrejections.com/challenges-ahead/
