Crypto In Real Estate: $29M NYC Condos Offered Exclusively In Bitcoin

A real estate company is offering a piece of prime real estate in New York City for sale but, uniquely, will only accept Bitcoin (BTC) as payment. Magnum Real Estate Group would reportedly “sell three retail condos complete with a fully rented-out retail bottom floor in Manhattan’s Upper Eastside" in the Bitcoin-only transaction.

The reported offer comes at a time when New York's new mayor-elect has launched the NYCCoin project for the city, a move seen as a fillip to cryptocurrency adoption among the city's residents.

The New York City-based development and property management company, according to Yahoo Finance, has priced the property that covers almost 9,000 square feet at $29 million. Located at 385 First Avenue, the bottom floor of the property is leased by ProHealth, Mighty Pita, and M&T Bank.

“There’s a demand for real estate, and there’s nothing being offered to the holders of crypto,” Ben Shaoul, managing partner of Magnum Real Estate Group, told Yahoo Finance. “Our idea is to offer something that’s unique and try to pair the holders of crypto with those who want to sell real estate.”

Shaoul has supported the tokenization of real-estate sale transactions since 2019, selling an Upper East Side retail condo for $15.3 million in BTC. He is extremely bullish on cryptocurrencies, expecting the adoption to grow in the future.

Shaoul mentioned that the investors have made good returns after owning Bitcoin, and “now they’re looking for cash flow in assets.”

Buying properties with crypto has its advantages. Bitcoin transactions can be settled in just a day instead of the regular 30-90 days taken for traditional transactions. After being processed through the U.S. automated clearinghouse for electronic funds network, Magnum will receive payment in dollars while BitPay will take the cryptocurrencies, and the sale will be completed.

New York’s progressive stance on cryptocurrencies and payments is also supported by mayor-elect Eric Adams, who is in a Bitcoin adoption race with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. Both have introduced CityCoins projects in their respective cities, launching MiamiCoin and NYCCoins.

The city of Miami previously announced that it would pay out “Bitcoin yields” to the stakers of the MiamiCoin token, which was introduced early this year and has already earned over $21 million in the past three months for the city. The acceleration of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption seems to hit a recored pace this year, and this is only the initial phase.