So far, bitcoins were considered investments without tangible assets. But now in Dubai 50 luxury apartments have been sold for Bitcoin.
Dubai stands above all for exceptional real estate projects, but Dubai is currently making headlines with the payment of real estate: 50 luxury apartments are being sold for Bitcoin.
Already last year, the British Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman announced to offer some apartments of a project development in the desert state in exchange for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Now, Mone and Barrowman have sold 50 of the 1300 units offered. The prices for the apartments range from 15 to 45 Bitcoins or from $ 30,000 to $ 380,000.
The idea to sell real estate against Bitcoin, had Barrowman, who is managing with the Knox Group own claims of 1.5 billion pounds. He was frustrated that the crypto-currency world has nothing but the currency to offer, and wanted it to be used to buy real assets in the real world.
Real estate is also being offered against Bitcoin in Germany: Thomas Zabel, head of JLL Residential Developments, says he is offered weekly payments against Bitcoin and that he finds the topic of crypto currencies „highly exciting“ and at the same time has many advantages: By eliminating them a central processing center, the processes are much easier and faster.
Zabel still does not pay for purchases via the cryptocurrency because Bitcoin is not a recognized form of payment. There is no clear exchange rate to which the tax office, for example, could base itself with the land transfer tax.
How the payment method with Bitcoin will develop in Germany and many other countries depends heavily on whether it is recognized as a means of payment. However, one thing is clear: despite numerous risks, this innovation offers enormous potential for both customers and service providers.