Deep Bitcoin Wallets Splash out on Dubai Apartments
Being situated in Science Park, the 50 apartments are located in one of the prime locations in Dubai. Science Park is near famous landmarks such as the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on the planet, and the Dubai International Airport. This sale represents the first ever bitcoin-powered real estate transaction in the history of cryptocurrency.
These 50 apartments are part of over 1,300 flats situated on a 2.4 million square foot apartment complex currently being constructed by Aston Property Ventures under the aegis of the Knox group of companies.
Michelle Mone, the lingerie mogul who owns both Michelle Mone Interiors and Ultimo, the lingerie company partnered with her billionaire boyfriend, Douglas Barrowman, to develop the project. The crypto-based real estate project was launched in September 2017, and it is reportedly worth more than $325 million. The project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2019.
Commenting on the sale to Business Insider, Douglas Barrowman said that it didn’t take long for all the 50 apartments put up for sale to be made. He went to say that they were all sold out and that some buyers even bought more than one residence with one particular individual buying ten apartments.
Many of the buyers according to Mone were early bitcoin adopters who have made a fortune from the meteoric rise of the cryptocurrency. The model also said that the project team had built quite a relationship with many of these buyers in the months leading up to the sale.
According to reports, the apartments sold were mostly studio apartments and two-bedroom apartments. Studio apartments were sold for 16 bitcoin, roughly $130,000 while the two-bedroom apartments went for 47 bitcoin ($380,000).
Despite the sale being in bitcoin, Barrowman and Mone do not receive the money in the virtual currency. Barrowman’s company, the Knox Group, has a partnership with BitStamp, one of the largest bitcoin exchange platforms in the world. The association between the Knox Group and BitStamp allows the former to receive bitcoin payment in US dollars. All payments are then converted by BitStamp from bitcoin to fiat.
Outside of real estate, the pair seems to be deeply invested in the crypto market as they also plan to launch an ICO for their Equi Platform Project. The ICO is expected to raise $75 million in sales of Equi tokens which will be used to establish the platform.
The Equi Project is an investment service that is designed to provide people with easy access to the venture capital investment market. Using their experience in the business scene, the two hope to be able to offer the service to help people achieve success in their investments.
Both Mone and Barrowman are at the forefront of greater cryptocurrency adoption in the realty sector. For crypto enthusiasts, the use of bitcoin in real estate and venture capital investments is naturally a welcomed development