CryptoCurrency & Real Estate? Possible Future?

[Karolis Braciulis]

The global real estate market is expected to grow from $2,687.5 billion in 2020 to $2,774.5 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate of 3%. The transfer of wealth that occurs throughout real estate is unmatched, but it still operates in a very traditional way.

Cryptocurrency and the blockchain they operate on offer a solution to the traditional real estate market. The infrastructure to be able to purchase real estate already exists and there have already been completed transactions. For example, in 2017 a buyer purchased a single-family home in Texas using Bitcoin. There was also another use of Bitcoin to buy property on Lake Tahoe for 1.6 million. Many out of country investors are also very interested in utilizing such virtual currencies to diversify their holdings in United States real property.

So, therefore, yes you can use cryptocurrencies to invest in real estate, but why do more people not use it? One of the big downsides to cryptocurrencies is they are still very new. It is a new form of technology and a recent study in the U.S showed that about only 1 in 10 people understand how they work, while 29% have some knowledge about them. 81% of people have never purchased any and 35% believe they are a fad that are not worth bothering with. Based on those statistics alone it is easy to understand why they are not being more utilized in real estate transactions. For every real estate transaction, every buyer needs a seller, and the buyer and seller must be willing to transact using cryptocurrency. Those statistics alone make that seem very unlikely, but it seems in due time that will change. As many large institutions including Paypal, Grayscale, and MicroStrategy continue to pile into the space, widespread adoption keeps nearing.

As the market becomes more comfortable with the idea of virtual currencies in real estate, finding both sellers and buyers should be theoretically easier. Additionally, it is also likely the niche will develop around only a few central currencies, with the main one being Bitcoin which is seen as the digital version of gold. At the rate it is growing; one day in the future, you may be walking down the street and see a “Bitcoin Accepted” on the For Sale sign in your neighbor’s front yard.