The first real estate has been acquired for digital currency in Denmark.
A major Danish cryptocurrency platform, Coinify, has announced it processed the first real estate purchase conducted with the use of bitcoin. The buyer of the property preferred to remain anonymous.
In order to accept the payment in digital currency, the real estate agency Just-Sold created a merchant account at Coinify.
“We are very satisfied being the first real estate company in the Nordics using a blockchain currency in a real estate purchase. As an innovative company it is only natural for us being open to new technology and taking innovative steps – also within payment methods. It is a part of our business DNA,” said Jesper Jørgensen, CEO of Just-Sold.
Coinify enables customers to accept bitcoin and receive payments in local currencies, such as dollars, euros and other currencies. Last year, the company announced expansion across 34 countries within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
The residential property, located in the north-west part of Zealand in Denmark, was estimated at 117 BTC (nearly $50,000). According to Jørgensen, the new owner of the house is an early adopter of digital currency, who has bought bitcoins over an extended period of mining.
Speaking about the advantages of bitcoin over fiat currency, Coinify’s Compliance Officer, Joosep Vahtras, stated: “Whenever there are so called large cash transactions with traditional currency, there are always questions regarding the source of funds. According to Anti Money Laundering rules, a person must disclose the origin of assets when purchasing for more than the equivalent of 100.000 DKK (15.000 EUR).”
In addition to processing the payment, Coinify provided help with ensuring compliance of the transaction. The acquisition of property using bitcoin shows a new possible application of the digital currency.
With cash deposits, it is often difficult for banks to verify the source of funds. “Since banks operate with closed ledgers a great amount of resources are required for obtaining the information in midst of the bureaucracy and customer privacy. In comparison, Bitcoin as a payment system uses open public ledgers that are transparent and easily accessible for everyone,” Joosep Vahtras said. Vahtras added that Coinify uses Chainalysis to track the previous transactions and digital wallets of potential buyers.
The agreement, meantime, is not the latest property purchase deal realized with bitcoin. In 2014, the California-based real estate company, RealtyShares, became the first firm to sell property for digital currency.
The use of bitcoin for property purchase is just another step towards the wider adoption of virtual currency.
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