Apartment in Portugal sold for 3 Bitcoin in country’s first crypto-only transaction

An apartment in the Portuguese city of Braga was sold in Bitcoin, without a conversion into euros. The transaction is the first of its kind in the country.

The T3 Braga apartment was sold for 3 BTC on 5 May, according to local media reports. At the time of the sale, the value of 3 BTC stood at around Euro 110,000. A T3 apartment is a type of residential space with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and bathrooms.

More about the Portugal apartment sale in Bitcoin

A ‘historical milestone’

According to the business news portal Idealista, the title deed was transferred in Porto’s Póvoa de Varzim district in Portugal.

Real estate company Zome was one of the participants in the deal, which also had a group of lawyers and other partners.

Among them were the law firm Antas da Cunha Ecija, partners from Switzerland’s Crypto Valley and the chairman of the Portuguese chamber of notaries.

In a Facebook post, Zome underlined that there was no need for conversion into euros.

“This writing [deed] represents a historical milestone, the transfer of a digital asset to a physical asset — a home — without any conversion for Euros,” read the post.

Reports say that the deal was made possible because of the introduction of new rules in April that allowed owners and real estate agents to sell properties directly in cryptocurrency instead of converting the same into fiat money.

Where else have properties been sold for Bitcoin?

Property sale in cryptocurrency has been gaining ground in recent months.

In late April, DAMAC Properties, a Dubai-based luxury real estate developer, announced that it would soon start accepting payments in Bitcoin for real estate sale.

According to Nasdaq, Latin American property technology company La Haus sold its first property in January for Bitcoin in Mexico for 5.78 BTC. It later sold another property for Bitcoin in Colombia.

(Main and Featured images: Quantitatives/@quantitatives/Unsplash)

This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Singapore