Skip to main content

Bitcoin Won't Encourage Cryptocurrency For Real Estate, But Cryptoeconomics Will


As Bitcoin enters the mainstream economy, a number of homebuyers and sellers are starting to use the cryptocurrency to conduct real estate transactions.   

Last year, Southeby’s International Realty sold one of the first single-family homes in Austin, Texas using Bitcoin. The Austin home was sold when Bitcoin prices were $3,429 in September 2017.

In addition to these transactions, other residential real estate properties are being listed for Bitcoin. A recent Forbes article describes how Canter Companies, a full-service investment firm specializing in real estate and asset management projects, recently listed two multi-million dollar homes for sale in Bitcoin. The homes are collectively priced at under $20 million in Bitcoin. And recently, a 27 acre piece of land in Silicon Valley has been  listed for sale in Bitcoin, Ether and XRP with a starting price of $16 million.

However, while there are a handful of homes currently listed for sale in Bitcoin, some believe that using Bitcoin for real estate transactions will not result in widespread adoption -- At least not until the real estate industry starts to utilize blockchain technology, which in turn will drive the adoption of cryptocurrency transactions.

While Bitcoin is stepping into society’s massive adoption as a decentralized cryptocurrency, the next-generation blockchain technology  brings a lot more to the real estate world than just a payment alternative. For example, Propy is based on the Ethereum blockchain, an enormously powerful shared global infrastructure that can move value around, while also representing the ownership of property. Ultimately, this enables title deed transfers to take place entirely online. Imagine a world where you can buy or sell your property while sitting on your couch - now this is a reality with blockchain technology, Natalia Karayaneva, CEO of Propy, told me.

According to Karayaneva, the only way to encourage homebuyers and sellers to take advantage of cryptocurrency for real estate transactions is to take a “cryptoeconomics” approach, which goes much further than simply putting homes up for sale in Bitcoin.

Cryptoeconomics lays out the framework for the way in which cryptocurrency ecosystems thrive and function across a decentralized network, known as the blockchain. These ecosystems are able to allow a number of entities who do not know one another to reliably reach consensus across an anonymous, trustworthy network through the use of cryptocurrencies. This is achieved by using a combination of economic incentives and basic cryptographic tools.

“Cryptoeconomics is like mechanism design. It starts with the desired end goal and works backwards to find the right set of mechanisms to align with the incentives of all participants in the system, to bring forth a common goal,” said Karl Floerch, a core researcher for the Ethereum Foundation.

For example, the international real estate marketplace, Propy, applies cryptoeconomics by incentivizing individual users to join the Propy platform to list properties, share properties on social media, upload title history into the system and more.

“Users on the Propy platform are rewarded with blockchain tokens that serve as “coupons” for the use of the platform’s services, while they are easily tradable online to other perspective users that want to obtain access to the services. Users have in their hands a secure, easy-to-use, comprehensive way for completing their real estate transactions,” Karayaneva said.


Bitcoin Won't Encourage Cryptocurrency For Real Estate, But Cryptoeconomics Will curated from Forbes - Real Estate

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vacation rental company Vacasa buys Sterling Resorts

Vacation rental management tech startup  Vacasa  isn’t slowing down its ambitions to conquer the market: this week, it announced that it has purchased Sterling Resorts, a vacation management company on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Sterling has changed hands before: it was  bought by Pacifica Companies in 2015 and currently manages 450 homes. Now it will become a part of Vacasa’s effort to expand its presence in vacation destinations such as northern Florida, where Sterling is based. At the time of this latest purchase, Sterling’s home inventory was  down from 585 properties in 2015. Vacasa has raised more than $200 million since its launch ten years ago. Founder Eric Breon said he was motivated to start the company after struggling to find a satisfactory management solution for a cabin belonging to his wife’s family on the Washington coast. Now Vacasa seeks to provide rental property owners with “a seamless experience…through innovative technology and local staff,” that give them
Post a Comment
Read more

In An Era Of WeWork, Co-Working Space NeueHouse Sits Above The Fray

NeueHouse CEO Josh Wyatt Seuss Moments In today’s cluttered co-working landscape, it can be hard for companies to makes themselves heard over the din. Elevated co-working space  NeueHouse  wants to create an unparalleled experience for creatives through elevated programming and outstanding design. NeueHouse describes itself as “ a private cultural and collaborative space for prominent creatives, artists and entrepreneurs,” with current locations in Los Angeles and New York. In November, following an announcement of $30 million in funding , the company announced Josh Wyatt as its new CEO. Wyatt is a veteran of the hospitality industry, having co-founded Generator  in 2007, a chain of culture-focused hostels targeted at millennials, before moving on to Equinox to head the fitness brand’s hotel developments in New York City. Forbes interviewed Wyatt to talk about creativity, design, the gun threat incident at NeueHouse New York, and why he isn't phased by his "800 p
Post a Comment
Read more

Could Ken Griffin's Penthouse Purchase Cost NYC Real Estate Buyers Millions?

'The Billionaire's Bunker' at 220 Central Park South is pictured on January 24, 2019, in New York - Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin has completed the purchase of a four-story penthouse in the building for $238 millionm- the most ever paid for a home in the US. The building is a residential skyscraper that is currently under construction. (Photo credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images) Getty A 2014 bill that aims to impose an additional tax on part-time New York residents—dubbed the “pied-a-terre tax”—has risen from the dead, largely in thanks to the recent record-breaking Central Park penthouse purchase by billionaire Ken Griffin. Griffin, worth an estimated $11.7 billion and No. 45 on the Forbes 400 , reportedly bought the $238 million-dollar apartment “as a place to stay when he’s in town,” according to his representatives. The purchase drew widespread attention to the financial losses that part-time and foreign property owners can cause the city. Bec
Post a Comment
Read more