So-called cryptocurrency whales who have made millions, if not billions in profit from their early investments in Bitcoin and other digital currencies, are said to be flooding the luxury Boston condo market.
The Wall Street Journal says crypto millionaires have made some of the biggest purchases of homes over the last year. For instance, Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the most popular U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, snapped up a $133 million home in Bel Air, Calif. last year, while Ivan Soto-Wright, co-founder and CEO of crypt payments infrastructure firm Moonpay, reportedly spent $38 million on a waterfront Miami estate.
Boston luxury condo developers have taken note of the interest among the crypto elite, and many have began accepting payments in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum for their high-end listings. At the same time, high-end real estate brokerages have been holding seminars to teach their agents how to sell to the crypto crowd.
So far, only a few luxury real estate transactions have been done using cryptocurrency, and in most of those cases the sellers would instantly exchange the crypto for U.S. dollars. However, crypto is becoming more commonplace in the real estate industry. PMG recently because the first U.S. developer to start accepting pre-construction deposits on condos paid in crypto.
