Digital rent processor ManageGo is integrating bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum into its payment app, and will soon allow tenants to use these cryptocurrencies to pay rent every month.
Using Coinbase's application programming interface (API), the app will convert any digital currency sent as payment into U.S. dollars, which will then be sent on to the landlords who use the platform to manage relationships with their tenants.
ManageGo vice president of business strategy Chaim Lowenstein told Technical.ly that the company does not intend to invest or hold the cryptocurrencies, but will instead immediately convert into fiat money.
He told the news source:
"We saw we could do this and take the risk out of it by converting it. … It would be like if someone wanted to pay with marbles and we could convert marbles overnight.”
The New York-based company does not own any or manage any properties outright, but instead runs a payment and maintenance platform for landlords and tenants.
Lowenstein said the company believes integrating cryptocurrencies will help it gain prominence, having realized there would be interest in the additional payment options after conducting surveys.
"We thought this would be a next-level amenity," Lowenstein said.
While cryptocurrency-friendly rent programs are rare, earlier this year, Switzerland-based VisionApartments announced it would accept bitcoin as payments. Unlike ManageGo, that company only accepts the cryptocurrency at its own properties.