{"id":20367,"date":"2022-02-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/?p=20367"},"modified":"2025-01-21T12:52:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T17:52:44","slug":"buy-a-home-with-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/buy-a-home-with-bitcoin","title":{"rendered":"You Can Now Buy a Home With Bitcoin: What You Need to Know About Crypto and Real Estate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

By now, you’ve likely heard of cryptocurrency. Likely in the news, from a friend, or potentially a celebrities Instagram story \u2014 the crypto craze is everywhere. But, whether it be Bitcoin, Dogecoin or Ethereum, these sometimes arcane tokens have become one of the hottest and most controversial investment items on the market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related content<\/p>

Home Buyer\u2019s Guide<\/a><\/p><\/section>\n\n\n\n

Many casual observers don’t know that the technology behind cryptocurrency has been applied to many sectors beyond currency, including real estate, opening the doors to a new future: crypto real estate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Cryptocurrency?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cryptocurrency is known as digital money<\/a> or digital assets. The blockchain technology behind this form of asset relies upon a distributed ledger, otherwise known as a list of transactions that cannot be tampered with. The most well-known use of cryptocurrency technology is Bitcoin (BTC). Right now, you can use BTC to act as a store value, but there are many other options as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most appropriate use of blockchain or crypto in real estate relies upon smart contracts. You can store these particular contracts on a digital ledger that will only trigger when the predefined conditions are met. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smart contracts enable the creation of decentralized financial (DeFi) institutions, games, trading platforms, and even non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The most prominent innovative contract platform is Ethereum, upon which most decentralized apps (dApps) are based. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Will People Use Cryptocurrency in Real Estate?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Two<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The beauty of cryptocurrency lies in its flexibility. With the proper foresight, it can provide benefits to almost any industry imaginable \u2014 and real estate is no different. There are many potential uses in crypto real estate. Let’s focus on three of the most impactful: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Smart contracts for home buying and renting<\/li>
  2. Real estate fundraising via security token offerings <\/li>
  3. Digital real estate with non-fungible tokens (NFTs)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    #1. Smart Contracts for Home Buying and Renting<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Real estate has a bit of an image problem: only 32% of Canadians<\/a> trust realtors’ credentials. The reasons for this are complicated, but it’s in part due to a perceived lack of transparency. The good news is that this is where blockchain can have a real impact, as every single transaction is made public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One of the big pain points for home buyers, sellers and landlords or tenants is the issue of middlemen. People often feel (somewhat unfairly) that real estate professionals<\/a> are acting as gatekeepers for the sake of the system. Crypto in real estate can reduce this problem by using smart contracts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    These contracts would make it possible to agree to a set of terms where an estate agent becomes an impartial overseer of the project instead of a perceived obstacle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Smart contracts would also remove the need for complicated vetting processes, which buyers and sellers would build directly into the smart contract. Although there are no mature solutions available today, Deloitte has laid out a roadmap<\/a> for how this system could work. Their study covers everything from improving searching for a property to a more efficient financing process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    #2. Real Estate Fundraising via Security Token Offerings<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Security token offerings have opened a new avenue to real estate investing. While real estate investing offers a solid financial outlook, liquidity is low, making cashing out difficult. This illiquidity is partly due to legal constraints, but security tokens can address this problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A security token represents your share in a specific project, commodity, or asset. These tokens can be sold and traded on any exchange compatible with their underlying cryptocurrency, usually Ethereum. In addition, by tying all of your legal documentation to an asset via the blockchain, it becomes far easier to verify your ownership of the investment, thereby opening up the option to sell it on secondary markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This approach is already being used in the real world. For example, in 2019, Equisafe completed the world’s first tokenized real estate sale<\/a>. Other examples include Propy, which completed the sale of the TechCrunch founder’s $16 million property<\/a> by using blockchain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Although token funding isn’t currently applicable to first-time homebuyers, it may become available in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    #3. Digital Real Estate With Non-fungible Tokens (NFTS)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are perhaps the strangest cryptocurrency phenomenon. NFTs are a unit of data stored on a blockchain that confirms a person’s digital asset ownership. In early 2021, NFTs took the world by storm, and since 2017, investors have spent $174 million<\/a> on NFTs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Readers may be asking themselves what this has to do with crypto real estate. The answer comes in the form of a $500,000 digital house sale<\/a>. The “Mars House” was the brainchild of Toronto<\/a> artist Krista Kim and was sold as a 3D digital file and is regarded as the first house ever sold via NFT. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The design of this outlandish property can be viewed in virtual reality, although the artist claims that glass-makers in Italy could reproduce it in real life<\/a>. It raises an attractive opportunity: could architects sell house designs and open up a new upscale market with 3D blueprints to build unique homes? We’ll have to wait and see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Crypto Could Have a Place in the Future of Real Estate<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"Hand<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Real estate is notoriously slow to adopt new technology, but it does feel like change is imminent. Cryptocurrency could remove many obstacles in all aspects of the real estate sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Digital real estate could represent a unique new way to create upscale, bespoke properties. While crypto real estate is undoubtedly in its infancy, there will likely be some exciting advances in the years to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Want to Learn More About Cryptocurrency and Real Estate?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Here are some news articles to read if you’re interested in following along with the potential to buy a home using Bitcoin or another form of digital currency in the near (or distant) future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n